Not a Demigod
by thegirlwiththetrident
Summary: She knows both of her parents, hasn't got Dyslexia or ADHD and has never been attacked by a monster. No, Erin Carraway is definitely not a demigod. But with strange boys carrying golden swords and a power she doesn't understand suddenly coming into her life, Erin has to face reality: She's not a normal fifteen year old girl, and things are about to get even more complicated.
1. Chapter 1: Swords and Sawdust

_Not a Demigod_

Chapter one: Swords and Sawdust

It all started maybe a week after my 15th birthday. I was walking back from school, enjoying the first sunshine of summer which had finally found its way to Kerritville, the town where I live.  
My best friend, Kara O'Leary, was chatting away next to me about some guy she liked, how unfair the new history teacher was, what she had seen on discount in the shops we'd just been to and so on.

Our friendship was easy like that: Kara talked most of the time and I listened, which suited both of us just fine. I'm a good listener, you see.  
Apparently, I'd always been extremely observant, even as a child. My mum used to call me little kitty, because she thought I seemed like one most of the time: paying attention, blending a little into the background, just enough to make people comfortable but still not in danger of being overlooked.

Yeah, my Mum's poetic that way.  
So I guess that's why I listen. And that's also why I always notice everything. Strange things sometimes. But I don't really like to talk about that.  
Anyway, Kara and I were almost at our bus stop, when something I noticed out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, making me turn my head.  
What I saw was something I could hardly believe: A boy around my age was standing on a street corner, holding a golden sword and brushing what looked like golden sawdust of his arms.  
"Erin what are you staring at?" Kara's loud voice made the boy look up, and for a moment we held eye contact. Then I blinked and both the sword and golden dust were gone, leaving only a blonde haired guy, who was gazing lazily at his watch.  
Where was the weapon gone, I wondered, completely perplexed. Or had I just imagined it, the way I do sometimes?  
"Hellooo, Earth to Erin? You there Miss Carraway?" Kara was waving her hand energetically in front of my face now, making a few strands of my dark blonde hair get into my face.  
"Sorry." I replied quickly, tearing my eyes from the boy and giving her a reassuring smile. "Got distracted."  
"Uh-huh" Kara muttered, but a few minutes later she was back to talking animatedly, not noticing the fact that I was not paying any attention whatsoever but was instead replaying the scene with the boy in my head. I'd looked back before we'd rounded a corner, but he'd gone.  
"Don't you just wish you had a special power like that sometimes?" Kara asked me wistfully, obviously concluding a story which I hadn't listened to.  
"Er, yeah totally." I told her, trying to look like I knew what she was asking.  
"But like, what would you do if it just randomly happened in public?" Kara went on, and I knew from her tone that it was the type of question she expected an answer to. Problem was, I still had no idea what she meant, which left me with two options:  
Ask what she was talking about and having to listen to it all, _or _pretend to know what she's talking about and take a wild and possibly embarrassing guess.  
I decided to go for the latter.  
"Just try to run for it I suppose?" I tentatively suggested and Kara nodded in agreement.  
"Yeah, totally. Just imagine the _mess _it would make!"  
And with that she was off again about the mess in her room and how her mother had threatened her with Oreo cold-turkey if she didn't tidy up (Kara is completely addicted to Oreos).  
Soon we'd arrived at the bus stop, and not long after that our yellow town shuttle bus appeared.  
As Kara lived only two stations out of town and I had to get off one stop before the final one, it meant I was on my own for the majority of the ride.  
I didn't mind though, I had my music player with me and soon I was half asleep on the bench.  
Thankfully Mr Waters, the old tramp who had made this bus his home, woke me up in time for me to get off.  
"Thanks Mr Waters" I grinned as I quickly jumped off.  
"It was the cucumber!" he called after me, drawing a circle into the air with his hands. I nodded and waved.  
Ten minutes later, I was in my room and changing into comfortable clothes: My favourite pink baggy sweatpants and an old The Colour Run shirt were the perfect thing for lounging about in my opinion. I simply didn't get what people dressed nicely at home for. To please the wallpaper?  
I don't think so.  
"Honey, are you hungry?" My mum called up at some point, her voice loud enough to brake through the sound barrier that was my door.  
"Yes!" I shouted back, looking up from my doodle of a cucumber dancing the cha cha cha. "Be down in a second."  
But before I could get up, the memory of what had happened today came back into my mind. Of course seeing weird things wasn't really weird for me at all, but there had been something about this time that made me feel...excited?  
Stop being stupid, I tried to tell myself, swatting against my forehead in a desperate attempt to get the guy's face out of my brain. So maybe I'd imagined him holding a sword. Perhaps it had been a trick of the light.  
Yet it had seemed to real, somehow. The straight metal ending in a sharp point, the golden flakes of dust on his arms, a pleased expression on his face.  
I could almost hear the rushing of the cars in the background, smell the scent of freshly baked cookies from a store which sold them on that very street...  
Before I knew what was happening, my whole body gave a violent shiver and then -  
I was gone.

**Okay, so there you have it, the first chapter of "Not a Demigod", my new story!  
It's officially the sequel to "The Light in the Sky" but don't worry, you don't have to have read that fic to understand (and hopefully enjoy) this one.  
First chapter's kind of meh, but don't worry, it'll get exciting again soon enough, with some familiar places and perhaps even people coming into the picture.  
Please review and tell me what you think! **


	2. Chapter 2: Chasing Blondes

Chapter two: Chasing Blondes

Traffic roared on my ears, but I had barely a second to register the noise before something slammed into me and knocked me to the ground.  
"Woah, watch it!" a voice cried, shocked.  
I was so dazed by what was happening, I barely registered the pain on my palms, or the boy now offering me his hand.  
Only when I looked up and saw the face that was peering down at me, did words come to my mouth: "You're the guy! The one with the sword and the sawdust-"  
"You must have hit your head" the boy interrupted me, concern on his face. But I hadn't missed the brief look of surprise that had flashed across his face at the word _sword.  
_"Please" I said, gingerly getting to my feet. "You need to help me, I was just standing in my room and suddenly I shivered and then I vanished and appeared here and you walked into me and I was thinking of this corner and.." I trailed off, realising that I was rambling.  
The boy was merely standing there, staring at me and I guess I must have looked pretty wild with my comfy (and now dirty) clothes on, my hair looking like a crow's nest on top of my head and what sounded like complete lunacy coming out of my mouth.  
"Please." I repeated, looking at him desperately. What the hell was happening to me?!  
The boy opened his mouth as if to say something, but seemed to think better of it.  
"I – Sorry." his mouth set in a firm line. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I suggest you go find a doctor, get him to check if you've got a concussion."  
"But-" my vision suddenly blurred and only the boy stayed in focus. What was that at his side? The sword!  
I gasped and everything suddenly became clear again. There was no sword there however, just the same golden watch on his arm which he'd been looking at earlier today. As I squinted at it, I could see tiny runes engraved around the face, but they were too small for me to make out.  
Suddenly the boy shifted his sleeve over his wrist, maybe accidentally, maybe on purpose, but it made me look up at him anyway. He looked pretty uncomfortable.  
"I need to go now. Stay safe." and with that he turned around and hurried down the street, turning left as soon as possible.  
"Wait!" I called, stumbling forward. I couldn't believe this guy! First he slammed into me, barely apologizing and then he just walked off after I asked for his help! Well, you're not getting away that easily buddy, I thought. Although I was still extremely disorientated, I was completely sure that this boy and my sudden ability to apperate and disapperate like a Harry Potter character were linked.  
And so, I did the logical and sensible thing: I chased after the blonde.  
He had a head start on me, which meant that when I'd rounded the corner, he was nowhere to be seen.  
The street was more of a side alley, abandoned and lined with mostly empty buildings, which were slowly falling apart. At the other end was a brick wall, yet there was no sign of the boy.  
_Damn.  
_I could hardly search every house, could I? Just as I was about to turn back, a strange feeling rushed through my body. It was like somebody pulling me gently forward, in a certain direction.  
Acting on pure instinct, I followed the urge and suddenly found myself standing in front of the façade of the third house on the left.  
Deciding that I could still freak out later over what was happening, I cautiously crept forward, opened the door and stepped over the threshold.  
Inside, the room was dark and the air musty, but I could hear voices drifting down from the next floor. Also, there seemed to be fresh footprints in the dust on the stairs.  
As quietly as I could, I started to climb the steps, wincing silently at every creak of the old wooden boards.  
Finally, I reached the landing and immediately spotted a door to my right which stood ajar and had a shadow moving behind it.  
Even though I'd originally planned to confront the boy directly, I found myself listening at the edge of the door frame instead.  
"No, I don't think she was a half blood."the same guy from before was saying agitatedly.  
_"But why not?" _an older, calmer voice replied. It sounded faintly like someone speaking on the telephone, but it was much too loud and clear for that.  
"Because she didn't feel like one, okay? I mean, she just popped up in my way wearing these hideous pink pants and babbled on about disappearing from her house and thinking of me and my sword-" _  
"She saw your sword?"  
_"Well yeah, but there's plenty of mortals who can do that, right?" _  
"Maybe so. But there aren't very many that can simply appear in any place they wish. If you ask me, she sounds very much like someone belonging in our world."  
_By now, I was pretty sure they were talking about me, unless of course the boy made a habit out of running over fifteen year old girl wearing pink jogging trousers.  
_"I think you should find her again. Don't let your experiences blind you, my boy. Take her here and we will sort things out." _  
His experiences, huh? Apparently he did do this more often.  
"But-" _  
"No buts. You're on a quest and it seems to me that the two of you were obviously meant to meet."  
_There was a pause and I could tell the boy did not like being told what to do, but probably wasn't entitled to disagree either.  
"Fine, Chiron." he grumbled finally.  
_"Good. Don't tell her anything yet though, not until we know more."  
_I had inched forward, so that I was now standing right behind the door, my nose almost touching the wood in front of it.  
"Uh-huh. But Chiron, I can't promise I'll find her. She could be any-"  
"You don't need to find me." I said loudly as I stepped into the room with a flourish. Yes, I know, tone down the drama Erin. But I mean, come on, the situation was calling for it!  
And the look on the boy's face really was priceless.  
He jumped, so much that he fell a little backwards, disturbing a cloud of – water?  
"What the HADES are you doing here?!" he shouted at me, quickly righting himself.  
"I followed you" I replied, reddening only slightly, keeping my voice calm, which wasn't exactly easy mind you.  
Then I noticed his hands. "Why are you holding window cleaner?"  
The boy put the window cleaner down. "I'm not."  
There was light slanting in through half broken shutters behind him,and it made his hair glow softly, like a halo. His eyes were dark, maybe brown, and he had a tall, athletic build.  
But all this didn't interest me a bit, all I wanted to find out was what the devil was going on here.  
"Who were you talking to?" I demanded, looking around for either a second person or some evidence of a cellphone.  
He didn't answer, nor did he make any sort of motion to introduce himself. Well, whatever, I thought, starting to get annoyed.  
"Well, if you don't wanna talk I'll just -"  
"Do you know both your parents?" he interrupted me suddenly.  
"What?" I asked, confused.  
"Your mother and father" he elaborated impatiently. "Do you know them both?"  
"Yes" I told him, perplexed. "But why-"  
"Are you ADHD? Or dyslexic?" he then shot at me, his eyebrows drawn together in a frown, while his hands fumbled with something in his pocket.  
"No. But why do you want to know?!"  
Again, he gave me no answer to any of my questions, but asked another one in return.  
"What's your name?"  
It was such a simple thing to ask, that he startled me into answering right away.  
"Erin Carraway." Now I was seriously irritated. Who did this guy thing he was?  
"Well, then I'm sorry Erin." he told me, his one hand still in his pocket, while his dark eyes stayed fixed intently on my face.  
Remembering I'd seen him carrying a sword, I cautiously stepped back. "Sorry for what?"  
"For this!" he replied and, with a sweeping motion of his hand that was so fast I had no time to duck, threw a handful of pale blue powder right into my face.  
The effect was instantaneous. As the sweet scent of the powder filled my nose, I felt myself growing drowsy.  
"Wha' did you do..." I mumbled, nearly unconscious.  
I barely had time to think _well schist, _before everything went black.

**Yey, the second chapter!  
I'm literally so excited for this story to go on, and I really hope you guys like it! Is there any character you'd really want to make an appearance? If so, leave his or her name in the little box down here!  
Thanks for everyone who's reviewed so far, I appreciate the support :)  
Rights go to Rick Riordan for all characters7settings that are a part of PJO/HoO**


	3. Chapter 3: Take a Picture

Chapter three: Take a Picture

When I came round, I knew instantly that I wasn't in Kerritville any longer, though how I knew, I had no idea. Maybe it was the air, tinged every so slightly with salt, or the grass beneath my feet (which for some reason were bare?), I don't know.  
For a moment, I didn't dare to open my eyes but then I noticed an arm around my waist, so of course I jerked away and looked around at the person standing there.  
It was still the same blonde haired boy, the one who had dusted me with blue knock-out powder.  
"You!" I shouted, stabbing a finger in his chest.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Where are we? Why are we here? Answer me, now!"  
I was so angry, I felt like I was seeing everything doubled.  
"Woah, calm down there, Rin." the boy said, smirking.  
I barely had time to gape at the nickname when he continued "You wanted answers, didn't you?"  
"Well" I spluttered "Yes! But I didn't want some guy to, to kidnap me!"  
"First of all, my name's Ryan, not _some guy_. And second, if you want answers you'd better shut up and do what I tell you. That is of course, unless you want to get yourself killed."  
I stared at him, backing away a little. "Is that a threat?"  
Ryan rolled his eyes, which, on closer examination, were dark green and not brown as I'd thought.  
"No it's not, but if you continue asking these stupid questions it might become one."  
He didn't look menacing or anything, yet I got the feeling that now was the time to back off a bit.  
"Fine." I said, looking around properly for the first time. We were at the bottom of a hill at the top of which a large pine tree stood.  
Green scenery surrounded us and there wasn't a single person in sight.  
"What do you want me to do?"  
"For starters, put this on." Ryan told me, handing me a bracelet. It was a fine golden chain, a beautiful connection of dozens of little hoops.  
"Why?" I asked him, intrigued. I held it up, so that the sunlight reflected off it, making it twinkle like a miniature sun itself.  
"Just do it."  
Now, I'm not normally the obeying type, especially not to people who act like Ryan did.  
However, given the circumstances, I did what he told me to. Just this once, mind you.  
The bracelet fitted perfectly onto my right wrist, it was merely a fraction of a shade to tight.  
"Follow me." Ryan then said, starting to climb the hill, striding through the high grass on his long legs.  
As he was taller than me (and I'm no shortie, mind you), I had to jog to keep up.  
By the time we reached the crest, I was completely out of breath. Guess that's what happens to you when the sportiest activity you normally do is walking from the bed to the shower. Oh well.  
"Tired?" Ryan smirked, but I ignored him. He might be an idiot, but at least he was helping me. Or so I hoped.  
I did have a stitch in my side (not that I would ever admit that to him), however, when I looked down the other side of the hill, I forgot all about any pains.  
In front of my eyes lay an extraordinary sight:  
The other side of the hill sloped gracefully downwards, merging with the sea in the far distance.  
But between the glittering ocean waves and the hill on which we were standing lay a...was it a camp? Half of it certainly looked like one, with cabins and activity fields, a pavilion and a big blue house with a wrap around porch. The cabins each looked different, but I had no idea why._  
W_hat really caught my attention weren't the different styles of the lodges, or the beautiful amphitheatre even.  
No, it was the city on the other side of the camp that made my eyes grow bigger than coffee plates.  
Stunningly white, with Greek style buildings and modern designs blending perfectly with each other, there rose a proper little town out of nowhere. I could see fountains sparkling, hear people shouting and even smell (thought that might have been my imagination) freshly chopped wood.  
The place was obviously still under construction, half of it resembled the sort of skeletal builds you see after strong winds swept the roof of your house away (yes, that has happened to me).  
I barely had time to register exactly _who _or rather, _what_ was constructing the rest of the buildings, when Ryan spoke up again, making me look round at him, my eyes still wide in amazement.  
"Take a picture, it'll last longer"  
It was obviously supposed to sound sarcastic but the half smile on his face gave him away: He was enjoying the view as much as I was.  
"Where are we?" I asked, and my voice came out hushed, completely in awe of the beauty of this place. Jeez, what was wrong with me?  
"Camp Half-Blood." Ryan told me, and I couldn't help noting that this was the first question he'd properly answered. "But I can't tell you anymore now, so don't bother asking me anything else."  
I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry, I wasn't planning to."  
Ryan smirked and pointed at the big blue house. "That's where we're going."  
I nodded and started walking down the hill. After maybe twenty feet I noticed that Ryan was no longer by my side. When I looked around, there he was, still at the top of the hill, staring down at me with a bemused expression.  
"What is it?" I called, wondering how on earth _I _was the one being stared at when _he _obviously lived in a freaking replica of Greece and had somehow managed to get me here, probably ages away from home, in maybe five minutes.  
When Ryan was level with me, he opened his mouth and for a moment I thought he was going to tell me something.  
But then he said "I told you not to ask me questions" and walked right past me.  
I actually marvelled at how unpleasant he was.  
When we reached the blue house, I could smell the scent of strawberries wafting toward us from a few fields not too far away. They smelt so good that I was tempted to sneak off and eat one. Of course my stomach started rumbling right away, which was so not the right moment. I have a very loud stomach you see, one which if not fed regularly will give angry wolves a run for their money in terms of growling.  
"Quiet" I told it, crossing my arms in front of me and hugging my chest in an attempt to shut the noise up.  
"What?" Ryan asked over his shoulder, throwing me sceptic look.  
"Nothing" I mumbled, embarrassed.  
Up the steps to the porch we went, and then walked around two corners of the building.  
Now, after disappearing from my room, being kidnapped by a truly unhelpful and irritating boy, and finding out there was a replica of Athens in the United States somewhere, you might have thought I was prepared for more weird things to happen today.  
You might also have thought that I wouldn't faint at the sight of a half-man, half horse talking to a surfer dude with a few dozen eyes too many.  
Sadly, you would have been wrong.

**Oh dear, I really need to start writing longer chapters, but I'm soo tired right now I simply can't do more. I do promise to write nice long chapies in future though xx  
Hope you enjoy this, credit for CHB and inhabitants goes to Uncle Rick,  
Please leave me a review about your opinion on this story so far! Do you like Erin / Ryan?  
What do you think will happen to Erin now she's arrived at the famous demigod camp?  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Camp Half-Blood

Chapter four: Camp Half-Blood

Of course it wasn't a full out faint, but I did slump forward pretty badly. Before I knew what was happening, arms had grabbed my waist and pulled me back up, though it wasn't Ryan.  
It was the surfer dude and yes, he still had way too many eyes in way too many places, and also yes, a couple of those eyes were touching me _right now.  
_But he'd saved me from doing an involuntary face plant, so I managed not to shudder and mumbled a weak "thanks" instead.  
He didn't answer, but winked with maybe half of his eyes which was super creepy but in the nicest possible way.  
"This is Argos" a friendly voice told me, and I looked to my right to see a middle aged man sitting there in a wheelchair, smiling kindly at me. I stared.  
"Where's the-" I began, but stopped myself, realising that 'where's the horse bottom" maybe _wasn't _the best way to speak to potentially helpful strangers.  
The guy laughed however, as if he knew what I'd been about to ask. "My, my, you _do _see a lot, don't you?"  
Not sure whether or not it was a question meant to be answered, I simply shrugged and mumbled "Not a lot that makes sense."  
The man gave me a searching look, which lasted so long that I started feeling uncomfortable.  
"My name is Chiron, Erin" he finally told me and I was about to reply that my name was Erin when I realised he'd already said it.  
"How do you know my name?" I asked him, raising my right eyebrow. A snort came from behind me, and I turned to see Ryan, whom I hadn't even realised was still there.  
"And what's _your _problem?" I snapped at him, getting really tired of his attitude.  
"Nothing" he drawled and yes, the smirk was still on his face. I wondered if he was even capable of a different expression, or if he smirked so often that it simply remained etched on this face, no matter what he was feeling.  
"Ryan" Chiron said, and there was a warning undertone to his voice. "Erin is new here, it's perfectly normal for her to be curious." He turned back to me. "Do you know why you're here, Erin?"  
"No" I admitted, attempting to block Ryan's face from my vision.  
Trying not to sound crazy (and terribly failing) I told Chiron what had happened to me, and how moments ago Ryan and I were still standing in an abandoned house in Kerritville.  
Suddenly Chiron looked a little worried.  
"What is it?" I asked, suspicious.  
"Well, about being at home moments ago, that's not entirely true actually." he said, slowly.  
I raised my eyebrows. Chiron threw a sideways glance at Ryan, who continued to look completely indifferent.  
"I'm afraid Ryan used a little _unorthodox _method to get you here."  
"Excuse me?"  
"Erin, it's August twenty-fifth. You met Ryan three days ago."  
For a second I thought he was kidding me. But then I saw the date on my watch and, well, I kinda freaked out. Completely.  
"What the hell is this?!" I yelled, stepping back from Chiron. "Where am I, for heaven's sake?! This is KIDNAP, do you even REALISE that?"  
Fury made my vision actually blur, and I saw Ryan fingering his sword, which of course made me even more angry.  
"Erin, please," Chiron started, but I wouldn't listen. I'd stayed calm long enough. I had a _high _tolerance level for stuff that was out of the ordinary, I mean, I seriously almost never lost it, but this was too much.  
"Who ARE you people?!" I demanded, my voice carrying probably all the way to China.  
"How do you know who I am?! What do you WANT?!"  
My vision blurred even more, and it gave me a headache. The chain around my arm was suddenly too tight, and I grabbed at it, trying to take it off, but it wouldn't open.  
Taking a deep, deep breath, I held my arm up to the three of them and demanded through clenched teeth: "Why. Can't. I. Take. This. _Off._"  
"Please, Erin, I will explain everything when you've calmed down."  
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. Then another. Then another.  
After maybe two minutes my heartbeat had slowed down enough for me too think clearly and the burning fury lingered as a temporarily subdued anger in my gut.  
"Okay" I said, slowly opening my eyes again. "Okay. Explain."  
Chiron motioned to a chair which had appeared out of nowhere, and hesitantly, I sat down.  
"Well" he started. "As you know, you, er, met Ryan in your home town which he visited while on a mission. Ryan messaged me shortly after meeting you and told me about your curious ability to tr- I mean, to appear out of thin air. I advised him to bring you here, so we could...help you."  
He hesitated a little too long on the help me bit for my liking, but I didn't say anything.  
"So, Ryan resorted to a method which is quite_ inadvisable" _here Chiron shot a very meaningful look at Ryan, who shrugged.  
"He used Arminus powder to subdue you, so you and he could travel without any unnecessary interruptions, I suppose. That was three days ago. In the mean time, the two of you have safely arrived here."  
Chiron paused, seeming to wait for me to explode again. But I didn't, I was way too curious for that now.  
"But where is here?"" I asked.  
"This" Chiron said, and raised his arms as if appraising the sky itself "is Camp Half-Blood."  
Huh. That didn't sound too good.  
"Er, why is it called _Half-Blood_?" I asked, my mind already building scenarios in which I'd landed in some sort of psycho killer camp.  
Chiron's mouth twitched a little, as if he was trying not to smile at my apprehensive expression. "Erin, you may not believe me now, but this camp is for children who have a godly parent, one of the Ancient Greek gods. Or Roman I suppose, but there are only few of those here. Those gods are real, Erin, and they are the actual rulers of this world, you could say. And when they have children with a mortal, that is to say, human, the children are called Half-Bloods, or demigods, who normally spend some of their life here, at camp."

Okay.  
So I get run over, knocked out, kind of kidnapped and then somebody who only minutes before was half a horse tells me that the old gods exist. And that these gods have children, who all live happily together in one place, in which I am currently sitting.  
Okay.  
The story was so ridiculous, it had to be true, I decided. I'm weird that way, I guess. Sometimes I get really suspicious, but then sometimes I simply accept what I'm seeing because there is no way my brain could be imagining it.  
"Right." I said, only because the silence was stretching so long I was afraid it would snap and hit me in the face. "So you're saying the Greek gods, the ones I learnt about in school, actually exist."  
"Yes" Chiron answered, looking completely serious. "Yes, they do exist and always have. And their kids, like Ryan here for example, come to live at this camp, which is one of the few safe places for children like him."  
I looked at Ryan, raising my eyebrows. "What god's your parent then? The god of sarcasm?"  
Ryan rolled his eyes at me, moved a little out of the shadows and then lifted his shirt sleeve to reveal an odd tattoo: It was a bow and notched arrow with Greek letters underneath them, but the ink was bronze not black, and so the tattooed skin looked like it was glowing when it caught the light.  
"Apollo." he said shortly, pulling his sleeve back down again.  
Huh. Was I really this calm now or was I in shock? Perhaps my outburst from earlier had exhausted my adrenaline levels, but all I had now was a slight headache.  
I nodded, while looking at the boy and the man in front of me. Argos had left at some point, but I hadn't noticed.  
"Okay." I said, and I felt indescribably tired all of a sudden. Being mad (angry that is, though maybe I was a bit of the other mad, too) always wears me out.  
"If what you're saying is true, could you prove it please."  
I thought Chiron was going to say no, but instead he did something entirely unexpected: He stood up.  
Now, normally you wouldn't expect a person sitting in a wheelchair to stand up. And normally you also wouldn't expect them to lift an entire horse body out of their chair, and then stand before you in full centaur form. But I guess there you go.  
To me, that more or less proved the matter. Unless of course I'd hit my head so badly before and was now actually lying in a coma in a hospital and this whole situation was a dream my malfunctioning mind had concocted, I could only assume that Ryan and Chiron the not-so-disabled middle aged guy were telling the truth.  
"I...believe you." I told them slowly and thought I briefly saw surprise flit over both of their faces, though Ryan's became indifferent again immediately.  
"Good." Chiron smiled at me, and stayed in his half man, half horse form. I stood up because I didn't like being that much lower than the two of them height-wise.  
Now that the question of where I was had been more or less sorted, I needed to get back to other important matters.  
"Chiron, if this really is some kind of godly camp, you have to help me. But first, could I call my parents?" I asked the centaur, who nodded reluctantly.  
"We don't normally allow demigods and electronic stuff like phones to mix as it attracts too many monsters, but I guess we can make an exception."  
He showed me inside to the telephone and I passed the next ten minutes getting shouted at by my mother, who had apparently (and quite understandably) gone insane with worry.  
I told her that I was fine but that I couldn't say where I was exactly (as I still didn't really know the geographical location of this place, and I could hardly tell her what Chiron had told me) and that I would be home soon, after I'd sorted some things out.  
"Sorted things out!" My mother screamed. "Erin Margaret Carraway, you'd better tell me where you are _right now _or I swear to god I will call the police and have you _dragged_ home!"  
"I'm sorry Mum" I said, my voice shaking slightly. I didn't want my parents to be this upset, but at the moment things couldn't be helped. "I'm really sorry. But I'm safe and I promise you I'll be home as soon as possible. Tell dad I love him, okay?"  
And with that I hung up. Yes I know, you shouldn't hang up on your mother but this was an emergency and she would never have shut up anyway.  
When I returned outside, Ryan had gone. I didn't want to seem interested in where he was so I didn't ask, but Chiron, who was back in his wheelchair, must have seen my look and said "Ryan has gone to fetch the Council, or at least those members who are here at the moment."  
"Which council?" I asked nervously, not liking the formal sound of that word at all.  
"The council of Little Athens, ahem, that is of the city you may have seen from the top of the hill, the one which is being built at the borders of the camp."  
I sighed. All I wanted was to have my questions answered and then go back home, but apparently Chiron had other plans. He put a hand on my shoulder and said, while looking me intently in the eye: "I know you have a lot of things to ask me, Erin. And I do want to help you, please believe that. But I think it is best if we inform the Council first and then we will be able to judge what the best course of action might be."  
"Okay" I said, rubbing my forehead. My head was starting to hurt worse.  
A few minutes later, I could see four people approaching the big house: A smaller, dark skinned girl with curly cinnamon coloured hair, a tall shaggy-blonde haired guy walking next to a beautiful girl with long brown hair and caramel skin and another tall guy but this one with jet black hair and slightly more tanned skin than the other. All of them looked like they were in their mid to late twenties.  
The nearer they got, the more nervous I became. What if they didn't like me? None of them looked particularly scary or anything, but somehow I got the hunch that these weren't people to mess with.  
When the four young adults had arrived on the porch and said hello to Chiron, they turned to look at me.  
"This is Erin Carraway, everyone." Chiron said, putting his hand on my shoulder in a fatherly way.  
"Erin, these are four members of the Council of Little Athens: Hazel Levesque, Piper McLean, Jason Grace and Percy Jackson."

**There you go, a longer chapter! Now that Erin's in the know and is about to meet our favourite heroes, who knows what will happen! ;)  
Also, me no own any of Rick's characters.  
Reviews are very much appreciated! xxx**


	5. Chapter 5: The Council of Little Athens

Chapter five: The Council of Little Athens

The meeting of the Council of Little Athens, or the COLA for short (yeah, I grinned too) had been going on for maybe ten minutes now.  
I'd met the currently present council members (there were twenty all in all) Jason, Percy, Piper and Hazel, although Hazel was one of the four Roman envoys, and heard a very short recap of their stories: Basically, all of them had an Olympian god for a parent and had fought in at least one major war in the past twenty years.  
All four of them were extremely nice, especially Hazel who was the youngest. She smiled at me right at the beginning and said: "Confusing, huh?", to which I simply nodded.  
Chiron had asked me to tell them my story and I had, and now we'd arrived at the Q&A part of the meeting, but sadly all the Qs directed at me hardly got any As.  
"So" Percy said "you know both your parents. Have you lived with them?"  
I'd answered this question before, but I nodded all the same. "Yeah. My mum works from home and my dad stays in Seattle five days of the week and comes home at the weekend."

"He only comes home at the weekend?" Jason said suspiciously, exchanging a look with Percy.  
"Yes." I replied, slightly defensively. "His work's so far away, it would be impossible for him to come home every evening."  
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Piper taking notes on a slip of blue paper.  
The latest one read:  
+ F- 5 o. w. /Min?/  
I didn't understand what it was supposed to mean, so I overlooked it for the time being. It was my turn to ask a question now.  
"So do the gods decide everything then? Like the weather, the crops, what comes on TV and all that?"  
"Well, they're not very agreeable over things like weather and crops, it all depends which god is favouring which part of the country and all that. I remember on my first quest when we visited the palace of Aeolus and he nearly killed us and-"  
"Jase" Piper interrupted, patting his arm "You're getting of track"  
"Oh, sorry" Jason smiled a little embarrassedly, but a wistful look lingered in his eyes.  
"Anyway" Piper picked up the thread "Yeah, the gods decide nearly everything. Although I'm not so sure about the TV programme thing-"  
"Actually, I think Zeus got a decree through dictating that _Bear Grills – Born Survivor _has to be on at least one channel at any given time of the day..." Percy mused, and Jason nodded in assent.  
"Yes, that last episode was awesome, although do you think he really licked - "  
"_Jason"_ Piper said, and I gave her a thankful look. They'd told me all of them were ADHD, but I hadn't imagined it to be so bad.  
"Normally they're better at focusing" Hazel whispered to me, as if she'd read my mind. "But today it's difficult – Never mind actually" She stopped her explanation mid sentence, and a pained look passed her face.  
"Well" Chiron suddenly said, clapping his hands and making us all jump. "I can see that this meeting is not really getting us anywhere. Erin, if you have any further questions you can simply come to me or ask Ryan, if you see him."  
I nodded, silently vowing never to ask Ryan a single thing if I could help it.  
"As for you, heroes, does anyone have a theory on what, excuse me, who Erin might be?"  
He looked at the four council members, two of which shook their head, but Piper and Hazel nodded hesitantly.  
"Piper?" Chiron asked.  
"Well" Piper started, glancing down at the notes she'd taken. "We know Erin isn't ADHD or dyslexic, although a demigod doesn't necessarily have to be either of those. Look at Frank. And we know she somehow managed to track Ryan and transport herself to his location, which is definitely a demigod thing to do."  
Everyone nods in consent, including me although I really have no idea what a demigod thing to is or not.  
Now Piper looked a little shifty. She hesitated, until Jason said "Go on, Pipes."  
"Well... I'm really not sure about this and if it's wrong I'm really sorry..." she threw me an apologetic look. "..but Erin, are you _sure _that.."  
"Sure what?" I asked her, not sure I wanted to hear her theory any longer.  
"Sure that your parents...really are your parents? Or that your dad is your dad?"  
The question hung in the air, and I saw comprehension dawning on the others faces. Percy looked shifty, and Jason thoughtful. They thought Piper's theory was true, I could tell.  
"What?" I said, my voice a little hoarse. "Of..of course I'm sure my parents are my real parents! I'm not adopted or anything-"  
"You might me though, Erin." Chiron told me, patting me on the back. "I know this sounds incredibly unlikely, but nearly all the evidence is that you _are _a demigod. You see, the camp is protected by strong boundaries and only demigods or other mythological creatures like satyrs and nymphs can enter. So You must have some of that blood inside of you."  
I was lost for words. First I was told that the Greek gods rules our earth and now I was an adopted child? I shook my head.  
"Couldn't it be" I started, searching for some other explanation "That my great great great grandmother or father was a god, or a nymph or something? That I inherited the gene?"  
In my mind this seemed far more likely than the other option, but Chiron didn't look convinced.  
"That's what I thought as well" Hazel spoke up, putting a hand on my arm. She looked at the other with a steady gaze. "Erin might be a legacy. We've tons of those at Camp Jupiter."  
"But legacies are never that strong are they?" Percy spoke up, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, making his already tousled black hair even messier.  
"They can be." Hazel replied "Look at Octavian."  
Everyone narrowed their eyes at the sound of this name, and I silently noted not to befriend any guy called like that. He must be horrible.  
"And even if they were powerful, the way Erin obviously is-" Jason now added "they would be attacked by monsters just as much as the rest of us are!"  
"I'm not powerful" I whispered so silently nobody heard me.  
"Yes, but then Piper's theory wouldn't work either, cause Erin doesn't get attacked, do you?" Hazel asked me, and I shook my head. Nothing ever attacked me except the clothes in my wardrobe when they came tumbling down on my head every now and then.  
"Maybe - " Piper began again, but I'd had enough.  
"Listen" I raised my voice, trying to hide the slight quaver in it. "I really appreciate all of you trying to answer my question, but I can't see us finding a fitting answer any time soon. Maybe we should just stop now, sleep on it and then regroup in the morning?"  
The suggestion sounded far more grown-up and sensible than what was really motivating me: I was pretty darn tired.  
"That's a good suggestion." Percy said, heaving himself out of the armchair he'd been sitting in.  
"Do you want to call your mother again?" Chiron asked, which surprised me as he'd told me that using a phone wasn't the norm here. Perhaps he felt bad for me.  
"No" I said, shaking my head. I couldn't stand to call Mum before I didn't have any proper answers to her or my questions. I knew it was egoistic, but telling her where I was would only result in her trying to find me, or making my father / the police come get me and that would be far more trouble than was worth. So no, no calling The Mother.  
_She might not even be your mother, _an unwelcome voice said in my mind. I swatted the thought away, but when I thought of home and how it would feel right now to be sitting on the couch with my parents, watching _Come dine with me, _it felt as if a heavy weight was settling on my chest.  
Unbidden tears came to my eyes and I blinked furiously to wipe them away.  
Thankfully, nobody had been looking.  
"So, would you like a tour?" Percy asked me, a friendly smile on his face. "Or would you like to sleep for a bit?"  
Right on cue, I had to yawn.  
"I think bed would probably be more advisable." Chiron laughed good-naturedly.  
"Where is she going to sleep?" Piper asked "At the Iapetus Home?"  
"No" Chiron said, shaking his head. "Not tonight. The others would be too interested, and I don't think that would do Erin much good right now."  
"Hey, you can sleep at my place!" Percy suddenly exclaimed "Annabeth's at Camp J at the moment, working on the convention plans with Reyna and Frank, so the house is quite empty. I'm sure she wouldn't mind you sleeping in the guest room."  
Relief filled me, I'd already dreaded having to sleep in a ten bed room with children I didn't know who all had over powerful gods as their mums and dads.  
"That'd be great" I admitted, and Percy grinned again. He had an easy sort of air about him, one which instantly made him likeable.  
"Good idea, Percy." Chiron nodded. "Alright heroes, I will see all of you and Erin tomorrow at, let us say, three o'clock?"  
"Perce and I have a course at three" Jason pointed out. "How about half past four?"  
"Good."  
And with that, the COLA broke up, each of them waving goodbye to Chiron, Percy and me.  
***

While we walked in the direction of the town, Percy pointed a few things out to me.  
"Those are the cabins" he said, and I saw again the odd assortment of buildings, all different size and colour, with a big centre green and a fire pit in their midst.  
"Over there are the stables. That's where we train the pegasi."  
I looked to where he was pointing and my eyes widened. _Pegasi _it turned out weren't average animals. Overhead, sailing through the slowly darkening sky, flapping their huge wings, where flying horses. That's right, this place had freaking _flying horses_. I mean, come_ on_!  
Soon we reached the border of the town, where a friendly looking woman in Greek armour smiled at us.  
"Hello, Percy" she said, the wrinkles around her eyes crinkling  
"Hi, Trudi." Percy replied, and handed her a golden card which he'd taken out of the pocket of his Jeans.  
The woman named Trudi barely gave it a glance, before handing it back to him with a grin.  
"I think I know who you are" she winked, and they chuckled a little.  
Then Trudi turned her gaze on me, with the same kind smile. "And who are you?" she asked.  
"Er" I said, unsure of what to say.  
"Damn, I forgot to get Erin her visitor card. Trudi, you don't think we could enter anyway, do you? It's been a bad day for her."  
"New demigod?" Trudi asked, raising her eyebrows.  
"We don't know yet." Percy replied darkly, and Trudi smile faltered.  
"Don't worry about it." she said in a whisper, and opened a pouch tied to her belt. "I always keep a few extra ones in here"  
She produced a bright orange card which had _**VISITOR**_ stamped across it in big black letters.  
"Thanks, Trudi" Percy told her, relief in his voice.  
"I hope I can trust you, Percy." Trudi said, and I couldn't really tell if she was kidding or not. I saw her through me a quick glance before the smile was back on her face.  
"Get along then, I'll see you tomorrow."  
And with that, we walked over the border and into Little Athens.  
In my opinion, there was nothing little about it.  
All around us were beautiful houses in hews of soft white, cream, nude colours. They were a blend of modern and Ancient Greek and Roman features, or at least that's what I thought, but I'm no pro at architecture.

Percy led me along a few stone paved streets until he finally stopped in front of a house which was a little bigger and a little grander than the ones around it.  
I stared open mouthed, which made Percy laugh beside me. He unlocked the door and let me walk in first.  
The inside was no less beautiful than the outside, but a more comfortable than grand. Still, everything fit perfectly together, from the colour of the pillows on the couch to the wood of the door frames. It was perfect as far as homes go.  
"Wow." I told Percy. "This is wonderful."  
"Hah" Percy laughed "Tell that to my wife. She's constantly changing things, going on about how the tiles and the ceiling don't match or something like that."  
"Annabeth?" I asked, remembering what he had said about Annabeth not being at home.  
"Yep." he nodded, and his eyes smiled at the mention of the name.  
"She must have a knack for design." I stated, still looking around at the perfectly coordinated colour and décor scheme.  
"Yeah, you could say that." Percy chuckled. "She's the architect of Olympus. Designed the whole town."  
"The whole town?!" I exclaimed, gaping. I couldn't imagine anyone, let alone one person, designing such a thing. I'd thought the gods had done it.  
"Uhuh, she's ambitious like that." Percy said, rolling his eyes mockingly. "That's her" he said, pointing at a picture on the wall. It showed a young couple, maybe twenty-three years old, standing on the porch of the Big House. The man, Percy, had his arm around a pretty woman, who was presumably Annabeth. She had long curly blonde hair, tanned skin and bright grey eyes. There was a huge grin on both of their faces, and Annabeth was showing off a sparkling ring on her left hand.  
"Engagement photo?" I asked, receiving a nod.  
While I followed Percy up the stairs to the next floor, I couldn't help thinking about Annabeth Jackson. She looked so confident, and obviously she'd made something of herself. According to what I'd learned at the COLA, Annabeth was not only the architect of Olympus, but had also fought in two wars and was a council member as well.  
She sounded...well, she sounded exactly like the person I wanted to be.  
"This is the guest room. Sorry, it's a bit small." Percy said, opening a door at the end of the first floor hallway.  
I stepped inside. It was cute little room, with a double bed taking up most of the space, a small cupboard and a little door which probably led to the bathroom. The colour scheme in here was brown and crème and it felt like home.  
"Thanks" I told Percy who said "I'll bring you some of Annabeth's old clothes."  
He left and returned a few minutes later with a small pile of clothes.  
"Thanks" I told him, taking the offered pile.  
"No problem." he replied, and walked over to the door. Before he left, I burst out:  
"Percy? Why are you all being so nice to me?"  
Percy turned around with a surprised expression on his face. "What makes you say that?"  
"It's just...I'm just some mortal from a tiny little town who's gotten herself into trouble. And you're all so...important." I don't know what made me say it, but somehow I had to get it off my chest. Why was everybody so kind to some girl they didn't know?  
Percy remained silent for a moment and then replied, with a sad sort of smile on his face:  
"Maybe it's because all of us know what it's like to feel alone."  
And with that, he closed the door.

**Long chapie for you lovelies! I only own my OCs.  
I'm sorry for any mistakes, but I don't have time to proof read at the mo, so I'll have to update it in a bit when I've got more time :)  
Reviews are welcome!  
xx**


	6. Chapter 6: Maybe a Demigod

Chapter six: Maybe a demigod

So when I woke up the next day, I was super confused. You see, my room normally wasn't filled with exactly the right amount of light, gently waking me up. No, it was either completely dark or  
blindingly bright when I forgot to put the shutters down.  
Also, my bedsheets didn't go with the vases and picture frames in it, and come to think of it, I didn't even _have _vases in my room, cause every flower I touch, like, dies.  
So yeah, I was pretty disorientated, until the memories of the previous day made their way into my mind through the foggy haze of sleep.  
Okay, so a little recap, I told myself: You're in a town called Little Athens, somewhere on Long Island. The world is ruled by gods who have kids with humans who then go to this camp which is right next door. You're currently in the guest room of two of said demigods.  
Oh yeah, and you might be one yourself, which would mean your parents aren't really your parents.  
Great.  
Okay.  
So now I had the facts cleared in my mind, I needed to prepare for the day.  
First of all, I had a shower.  
_Ah, glorious hot water, you are my saviour_. Feeling much more refreshed, I used the towels and a little hair-dryer I found in the bathroom to get myself dry. Then I went to put on some of the clothes Percy had brought me, old ones which no longer fitted his wife, Annabeth.  
There was a full length mirror in one corner of the room, and I stepped in front of it:  
So there I was, a-little-longer-than-shoulder-length hazelnut coloured hair with a messy fringe, pale blue eyes and normal complexion. Average height, a little on the tall side I guess for my age. Normal build.  
I sighed. This girl in the mirror was definitely not the daughter of an all powerful god or goddess.  
I mean, it wasn't like I didn't like myself or had any major self-confidence problems, no, I was a perfectly happy fifteen year old girl with your average fifteen year old girl problems. And that, apparently, was my problem right now.  
How could Percy or any of the others expect me to be special, when I was just _me_?  
There was a knock on the door, and I went over to open it. Percy was standing there, the easy smile on his lips, black hair in a cute sort of mess.  
"Mornin'" he said, leaning against the door frame and giving me a once over. He chuckled.  
"What?" I asked, a little defensively.  
"Nothing" he said "It's just...your clothes."  
I looked down at myself: I'd put on jeans shorts and an orange t-shirt which said _Camp Half-Blood.  
_It was comfy and kind of fitting I'd thought.  
"What's wrong with them?" I demanded to know, my eyebrows drawing together.  
"Nothing's wrong with them" Percy said, smiling "You just remind me a lot of Annabeth. She nearly always wore that."  
This remark made me smile, and I got a warm feeling inside. If I could be even a little like Annabeth Jackson, I would probably be able to manage this whole affair much better.  
"So, you still not freaking out? Trying to run for it? Denying our existence?" Percy asked as we went downstairs.  
He'd made breakfast, eggs on toast with bacon, and I was so hungry my mouth actually watered.  
"Dig in" he told me, which I did.  
Between bites, I answered his questions: "I sorta already did the freaking out bit yesterday before you came along. And I don't think running for it would exactly help me, also, breakfast" I pointed at my already almost empty plate and Percy laughed.  
"As for denying your existence, eh, kind of difficult?" I actually smiled and received a nod in return.  
When we'd finished eating, Percy asked: "Ready for the grand tour? Piper and Jason are coming along as well."  
"Yup" I nodded "Just let me get my-" I faltered.  
"What?" Percy asked, looking confused.  
"I...I was going to say let me get my bag, but I don't have one, do I?" I tried to put of the remark with a grin, but secretly I felt a pang of home sickness. I didn't like not having a single thing of my own with me, well, except for the track pants and top I'd arrived in yesterday that is.  
Percy didn't say anything, but I saw him throwing me a quick glance as we left the house and made our way through Little Athens.  
He showed me quite a bit of the neighbourhood, which was mainly for living.  
"This side of the high street is for permanent residents, and some others who have, like, a holiday home here." Percy explained, as we wandered through the cobbled streets, slowly making our way west.  
At some point, we stopped in front of a cute house with beautiful white flowers growing outside on the balcony.  
"They'll be out in a moment" Percy told me and sure enough, Jason Grace and Piper McLean emerged barely two minutes later.  
They smiled at me, and Piper took up the job of narrating the sights around us, while Percy went a little ahead and Jason walked behind us.  
Maybe I was imagining things, but I couldn't help thinking of guards watching a prisoner, the way they moved around me...  
I noticed a few other things as we reached the high street, which was the broadest road we'd seen so far and was lined with lots of shops, selling all kinds of stuff, like armour or self-polishing swords:  
Percy Jackson continually kept his hand in his pocket, and from the way it was bunched together, I gathered he was gripping something tightly.  
Jason Grace had one hand swinging loosely by his side, the other one was flipping a new looking golden coin.  
The two boys never altered these positions, and I couldn't help but wonder: Why?  
Piper on the other hand was constantly talking: "Look over there, they sell the _best _brownies ever, and this is where we all get our weapons sharpened and over there-"  
Her voice had a soothing quality to it, and if I let myself listen to it for longer than a few minutes, I felt much more relaxed and less worried about my problems than before.  
After walking a while along the high street, my guides (or at least I hoped that's all they were) turned left and soon we came to a small, round plazza. It was lined by immense buildings, all in Ancient Greek style with columns and arcs and beautiful friezes.  
"Right." Percy picked up the talking again. "This is Damasen Square, it's the main centre of the town. Over there you have the Council building, the Chariot race place, the Colosseum and a bunch of other important stuff."  
I looked around, feeling like I was in Greece on holiday with my family. Except, you know, this wasn't Greece and these people, although nice enough, weren't my family.  
"What's up there?" I asked, pointing up a street which climbed up the side of a hill, at whose end I saw a shimmering golden light.  
"That's the Temple Boulevard." Piper said. "If you wanna worship, that's where you're heading."  
"And over there?" I wanted to know, looking to the other side, where the streets became darker and I could barely see what was at the end of them, except for a scarce scattering of trees.  
"The cemetery." Jason said grimly. "Don't go there unless you want to be spooked for like, a month."  
I made a mental note to go down there the next chance I got.  
"Wow." I stated, and sat down on a stone bench nearby. "This town, it's beautiful. How old is it?"  
"Fifteen years" Piper answered immediately.  
"That's not very old." I stated, looking around at the buildings which (apart from their unblemished-ness) might have been standing there for aeons.  
"No, it's not. We started building it straight away after the Second Giant War. A bit of our camp was demolished back then, and we wanted something new, so this is what happened." Percy sounded a little lost in the past.  
"It's not yet finished though." I thought out loud, remembering the building sights at the edge of Little Athens which I'd seen from the top of the hill.  
"No, not yet." Piper agreed with a little smile. "Annabeth still has all these plans in her head, though if she keeps it up, even the Hecate lot won't be able to magically extend our land anymore."  
I had no idea what she'd just said but I just nodded like I understood.

After the grand tour of LA (Little Athens, get it?), Piper showed me the rest of the camp while the men went off to their sword fighting courses.  
Cause that's the sort of thing they taught little kids here, how to impale somebody with a pointy piece of metal.  
The last part of our tour were the cabins, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. Each cabin stood for a god, and that god or goddess's kids lived there.  
The only cabin Piper could really show me the inside of was the Aphrodite cabin, which was cute I guess once you got used to the powerful smell of perfume.  
"You don't sleep here anymore though, do you?" I asked Piper outside, where there was a little bench which we sat on.  
"Nah, you saw Jason's and my house in town. We moved there two years ago."  
"Are you guys married?" I asked, interested.  
"Nope" Piper replied, looking off into the distance with a little smile on her face. "Not yet. We're engaged and have been for, like, four years, but there's tons of legal work to do what with Jason being Roman and all..."  
"Jason's Roman?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. "But how come he's not a Roman envoy then?"  
"Well, it's kinda complicated, like I said. Jason was _born _Roman but he, how to say, he kinda chose his Greek side over his Roman one, ages ago."  
"Oh. I didn't realise you could do that."  
"Not a lot of people have."  
"So, what's the Roman camp like?" I asked, eager to know more about this strange and fascinating world. "Is it very different? Do they have a city as well?"  
Piper grinned. "We kinda copied to be honest. Camp Jupiter's built next to New Rome, which existed long before Little Athens came along. As for it being different, well I guess you could say that, I mean they're a legion for one thing and so the rules are stricter and they use unicorns instead of ambrosia..."  
We continued to sit there for quite a while, and I listened carefully to everything Piper told me. I have to say, I probably learnt more in that hour than in four years of high school.  
Soon I was relatively up to date on the average life of a demigod, the monster attacks and dyslexia, the ADHD and the slim chance of survival outside of a half blood camp.  
And the more I learnt, the more certain I grew that I was not a demigod.  
Piper seemed to believe differently however, for at some point she said: "You know, I think I've got you figured out now."  
"You do?" I asked sceptically.  
"Yes." Piper nodded. "I think your dad might be a minor wind god, like Circios for example. I've heard of gods pretending to be humans before and living with their families, for a few days a week.  
It would fit you see, you told us your dad was only at home for five days during the week and even the transporting yourself somewhere else would be explained that way. Maybe it was your dad, wanting you to find us! He must be minor though, otherwise you'd be attacked all the time. I guess your dad's put some kind of extra protection on you and your mum."  
I didn't answer. I didn't know what to say.  
Piper later repeated the same theory to the others and Chiron, Jason and Percy seemed to agree. Hazel looked unsure, but it was the best lead we had so far.  
"But how could I not notice if my dad was a god?" I asked, a frown on my face. Surely, if Dad was a god, we wouldn't need to call the repair man every time our bathroom sink broke.  
"Gods are very adapt at concealing their true selves, Erin." Chiron said gently. "He's still your father, and I'm sure he loves you very much, even if Piper's theory _is_ true."  
"So, how do we find out for sure?" I asked uncertainly.  
Chiron cleared his throat, rolled over to the fridge and got out a can of soda, which he passed to me.

"Drink that, Erin. As for proving our theory, there are two possible ways: Option one, your father officially claims you, for example at the camp fire tonight. Option two, we wait until Mr D, that's the camp director, comes back from his holiday and agrees with us. He's the god of wine you see, so he should be able to recognize a demigod."  
I felt a flutter of fear at the mention of this god and the possibility of being scrutinized by him. Piper had told me about Mr D: He was the god Dionysus and had been sent here by Zeus as repentance for lusting after some off-limits wood nymph. Apparently he was a right old git.  
"So in the meantime I'm...?" I prompted, wanting to know what I could call myself at the moment. Apparently I wasn't all human, like I'd thought for the past fifteen years.  
"You're maybe a demigod!" Percy clamped a hand on my shoulder and grinned down at me. "Don't worry, Erin. My guess is your dad will claim you as soon as possible, and then we'll know for sure that you're a Half-Blood. Right, Chiron?"  
Percy looked at the old centaur for him to agree, and Chiron nodded, but I saw a hint of unease on his face.

We were walking past the shiniest of the cabins, Apollo, when just at that moment, a familiar figure walked out and shouted "Hey, Mr G!"  
Next to me, Jason stopped walking and waved at Ryan, who came over to us quickly.  
"What's up, Ryan?" Jason asked.  
Ryan neither looked at me nor showed any sign of recognition, instead he started talking to Jason.  
"I was just wondering if you could show me that blocking trick again. I tried it, but it still won't work."  
"Sure." Jason replied, throwing a glance at Piper as if asking her for permission. She nodded with a smile on her lips. "We can go down to the arena straight away."  
Ryan nodded eagerly, and turned around, halting only when Jason said: "Erin, do you want to come? It would be best if you started training as soon as possible."  
Even if I couldn't see his face, I was prepared to bet everything I owned that Ryan was wearing a look of distaste.  
I wasn't sure if I wanted to go fight with swords (I mean, I wasn't medieval, was I?) but the chance to annoy Mr Smirk-a-lot was too good to pass up.  
"Sure" I smiled, and followed the two males to the arena Piper had shown me earlier. There were a few other kids milling around, and after he'd given me a sword, Jason paired me up with someone called Jayne Smithee, a perky blonde girl.  
Jayne was nice enough, maybe a little reserved but then again I was a stranger to her.  
"So, who's your godly parent?" I asked her while she showed me how to hold my sword correctly.  
"Demeter." she answered, then added "the goddess of farming and plants and stuff."  
I could see Jayne being a child of an earth goddess, I thought. She had straw coloured hair and grass green eyes, with freckles sprinkled all around her nose. There was a kind air about her, and I decided she might make a good friend.  
"Have you been claimed yet?" she asked me, while making me swing the blade a couple of times. I wasn't very good, and holding up the sword was using up all my strength, so I only managed a shake of the head.  
"Don't worry, you will be soon." Jayne smiled a little at me and I smiled back. I missed Kara, I realised suddenly. I missed home.  
"Right, are you ready? One, two and three!"  
Before I could react, before I could even blink, Jayne had slammed my sword out of my hand and sent it clattering to the ground.  
"Sorry, sorry" I said hastily, picking up the blade, fumbling it and letting it fall again almost immediately.  
I heard some kids laughing over by the seats, and my face grew warm.  
"Ignore them." Jayne advised.  
We tried again. And again. And again.  
But no matter what or how hard I tried, I was completely useless. My sword spent more time on the ground than in my hand.  
"Okay, maybe sword fight isn't your forte." Jayne said finally, barely breathing hard while I was wiping sweat off my forehead and panting like I'd just run a mile.  
"Diner's in an hour. Maybe you should shower before." Jayne suggested, and I nodded, grasping my side. Jeez, I really was unfit.  
"Okay. See you then." she waved, and was gone.  
It took me another five minutes before I could stand straight and breathe normally again. As I looked around, I saw nearly everybody had left, except for one boy who was still practising vehemently: Ryan.  
I hesitated for a moment, but then decided that I wanted to see a familiar face, no matter how unfriendly it was.  
"Hey" I called, as I slowly approached him.  
He didn't look up immediately, but went on with his moves for another minute or so. Perhaps he was hoping I would go away, but I waited.  
Finally, he finished and looked up. "Hello." His voice was cool, like I'd expected. It made me long for home more than anything, for a hug from my Mum or my bed.  
I pictured myself lying underneath the covers, with a good book and perhaps a nice cup of tea by my side.  
For a second I felt better when suddenly my vision blurred and before I realised what was happening, the ground rushed up to meet me.  
I must have blacked out for a second cause the next thing I knew I was lying on the arena floor, half propped up in Ryan's arms.  
He was talking to me, but I couldn't understand him. It was as if his voice was coming out of a badly tuned radio, getting softer and louder and softer again, and there was a ringing sound accompanying it.  
"Erin. Erin!" finally his voice became clearer and his face appeared before mine. "Can you hear me?"  
I tried to nod, but my muscles wouldn't respond, and so all I could do was lie there and look at him, my head lolling uselessly.  
"Help!" I half heard him shout, as he leant my head against his chest.  
Everything went blurry again, the only thing I was really aware of was Ryan's chest, his rapid breathing and the sound of his beating heart.  
"Help!" I heard Ryan's voice again.  
Help, I agreed silently.  
Help.

**Uh oh, trouble ahead!  
Reviews are very welcome! :)  
Uncle Rick owns everything 'xcept my OCs  
xx  
Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7: Jake

Chapter seven: Jake

The next two hours or so were a blur. I wasn't asleep, I wasn't awake, I was suspended in a constant state of shadowy confusion, not really understanding what was happening and not really sure who I was anymore.  
Sometimes I would surface, hoping it was over but the next second I would be pulled under again, sucked into a painful state of limbo.  
The worst thing was, I couldn't speak, even when my head felt a little clearer for a moment.  
I barely noticed how I got back to the Big House, I think Ryan might have carried me there, but I wasn't sure.  
What I could remember were merely a few snippets of conversation I heard at some point.  
"...happening to her?" – "...not for fifty..." – "...call Solace." – "better...not here!"  
None of these made any sense to me, except for one, which explained itself when I finally regained full consciousness and control over my body.  
A young man, maybe thirty years old, was standing beside the bed I was lying in. He was looking at a cup, the contents of which I couldn't see, with a look of doubt.  
I tried to speak but all that came out was a little croak.  
The man looked at me. He had blonde hair, like Ryan and intelligent eyes with lots of crinkles around them. His fingers were slender, and there was a concentrated air about him.  
"Hello Erin." he said, taking my wrist to feel my pulse. "It's good to see you awake."  
"What-" I started, but the man shook his head.  
"Try to rest your voice a little. My name is Will Solace, I'm the chief healer here. They called me after you were brought here, during your...turn."  
Turn, I thought. That was one way of calling it.  
"I tried to put a calming spell on you, but it, ah, didn't work. All there was left to do was let it try to sort itself out, though once you've slept a little, you'll have to tell me exactly what happened before and during the fit, okay?"  
I nodded to show I understood. Healer Solace smiled, and then looked back down at the cup.  
"I think we'll wait with this." he stated, setting it on a table, just out of my reach.  
Before I could ask what was in the cup, my eyes had closed and I'd fallen asleep.  
When I woke, it was still dark outside so I figured I hadn't slept that long.  
The room was filled with a soft light emanating from a satyr shaped lamp on the bedside table, and it took me a moment to register the person sitting beside the bed.  
When I did notice the red haired woman, I jumped so badly the whole bed shook.  
"Don't worry!" she immediately said, holding up her hands and smiling reassuringly at me. "Don't worry, I won't do anything. My name's Rachel."  
She held out a hand which had random words drawn on it in marker, and I shook it tentatively.  
"Who are you?" I whispered, unable to talk any louder.  
"I told you" she winked "my name's Rachel. As for what I do, I'm the oracle here at camp."  
I stared at her. Had she really said oracle? "So...you tell the future?"  
Rachel chuckled. "Sometimes. Though I'm afraid it's never really simple. Often I only get notions, I guess you could call them, and they're hardly ever helpful."  
She said this with a hint of bitterness.  
I blinked. My brain felt slow and sluggish, so it took me a while to phrase my next sentence:  
"You tell the demigods their prophecies?" I asked, remembering something Piper McLean had said about demigods having to get themselves a prophecy before going on a quest.  
Rachel nodded.  
"What are you doing here?" I wanted to know, and Rachel's green eyes suddenly turned unfocused.  
"I had a...notion." she murmured, and I was no longer sure that she was actually talking to me. Still, I inquired further. "A notion? About me?"  
"No" she shook her head, staring into the distance. It was kinda creepy.  
"Not about you directly. But you've got something to do with it."  
I raised my eyebrows and waited for her to explain.  
But instead, Rachel shrugged, and her gaze found mine once again. "Like I said, the feelings I get are hardly ever useful."

Although I wanted to know more about this odd notion which somehow concerned me, I guessed that Rachel probably didn't understand things either. So I decided to wait, perhaps talking to me would give her idea time to grow.  
"Do you live in Little Athens?" I asked, and Rachel once again shook her head.  
"I have a...cave."  
"A cave?"  
"Yeah, though it's much nicer than it sounds. Apollo reckons that an oracle isn't supposed to live in a regular place."  
"Apollo?" I repeated, my voice shaking "Like, the _god _Apollo?"  
Rachel laughed. "The one and only."  
Silence fell, and I watched as Rachel got out a tiny notepad and began doodling on it. I didn't know what she was waiting for, but somehow I got the feeling that she might just be able to help me solve my problems.  
"Rachel?" I asked, and her green eyes met my blue ones.  
"Yes?"  
"Would it be okay if I came by your cave tomorrow? I think...I think you might be able to help me."  
Rachel hesitated, then nodded.  
"Okay." she said, then added "But don't come before three o'clock."  
"Why not?" I inquired, interested.  
She winked at me. "Oracle business."  
With that she got up and went out the door, leaving me alone in the now empty room.  
Before I fell asleep again, I stared up at the ceiling, wondering who I was and what was going on.

"Is she still asleep?" a low voice murmured, drifting through my sleepy mind.  
"No, I think she's waking up. What are you doing here anyway?" a sort of familiar voice replied.  
"Ryan said he wouldn't come." the other one answered.  
Both of them were male.  
I screwed up my eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but alas, a hand was already gently shaking me.  
"Erin?" the older man said "Good morning."  
I blinked, and slowly the room came in to focus: Healer Solace was back, and behind him stood a dark haired, slender guy, whose white teeth showed as he grinned at me.  
For a second, I had the oddest feeling that he looked familiar, but then Will Solace spoke and I turned my attention to him.  
"Here, drink this." he told me, holding out the cup which he'd refused me yesterday.  
I took it and looked inside. There was barely any liquid there, just a few drops of golden syrup.  
"What's this?" I wanted to know, sniffing the stuff. It didn't really smell of a lot, just faintly of pancake sauce.  
"Drink it, and if you survive I'll tell you." Healer Solace said, and I laughed.  
Then I noticed that he and the dark haired boy were only smiling weakly. Were they serious?  
I decided that I wasn't a wuss, and so I brought the cup to my lips and let the few drops trickle into my mouth.  
"Ew." I spluttered, choking.  
The liquid tasted like burnt toast dipped in chilli sauce (Yes, I have eaten that before.).  
I grabbed my throat, forgetting about the cup which fell onto the ground with a thud.  
"Here, take this!" the boy called, and thrust a glass of water at me. I took it and chugged the whole thing, desperate for the burning to go away.  
"Curious" I heard Solace say, and between coughs I managed to get out: "Curious?"  
"Yes. It doesn't seem to harm you-" "speak for yourself!" "- but apparently it does not appeal to you either."  
"What is it?" I asked again, and slowly the burning sensation ebbed away.  
"Nectar, the food of the gods." the dark haired boy answered, his chocolatey brown eyes fixed on me. "Demigods usually like it."  
"Yeah, well, I'm not so sure I am one of those" I croaked. The boy grinned, and I felt a little better.  
"Well, Erin, I think you're good to go, but I have to ask you to tell me what happened first." Healer Solace requested, and helped me into a more upright position.  
"I'll wait outside" the dark haired boy piped up and left with a little wink. His consideration was nice.  
Quickly, I told Will Solace about the, what had he called it, a turn? Stroke seemed more accurate.  
His expression didn't reveal anything, except maybe the slightest bit of confusion mixed with worry.  
When I'd finished my tale he told me to come to him as soon as I felt the least bit off and gave me a card with his address in Little Athens.  
Before he left, he turned around at the door and gave me a half smile. "You know, Camp Half-Blood is amazing really. When you get used to it."  
I looked at the door for a few moments after it had closed. I had no doubt that this place could be the most awesome one on earth, no doubt at all. But it seemed that for me it came paired with strokes, mad parents and quite a few existential questions and I had no idea if I was prepared for that.  
There were no things for me to take with me from the infirmary and so I left as well, after standing on my feet for a minute to make sure they still worked.  
Outside, I found the dark haired boy waiting for me.  
"Hi" he grinned, holding out his hand. "I'm Jake."  
I took his hand and shook it. "Erin."  
"I know" he winked, and motioned into the room. Obviously he knew, I thought and felt a little embarrassed.  
"So how are you enjoying your stay so far, Erin?" Jake asked jovially, as we made our way back outside.  
"Oh, it's great" I laughed sarcastically. "You know, the not knowing what I am, who my parents really are, getting strokes stuff, it's really regenerating."  
Jake laughed, a hearty laugh I instantly liked. He looked at me and his chocolatey eyes were like warm pools of, well, chocolate.  
"Don't worry" he told me. "We all go through that. Except the strokes. That makes you weird."  
he winked and I grinned.  
It was nice talking to somebody my own age for a change, it made me miss Kara and home a little less.  
"So how long have you been here?" I asked him, wanting to keep up the conversation. We were passing the fields now and the fruity scent of strawberries wafted past us, making me inhale deeply.  
"Oh, about six years now. I came here when I was ten, and my dad claimed me when I was eleven."

I tried to surreptitiously check him out and guess who his godly parent was. Alas, I had no idea.  
"Who is your dad then?" I asked, and instead of an answer, Jake pointed straight ahead.  
We had reached the cabins and were now standing in front of the one with a number nine on its front door.  
"Hephaestus." Jake added to my confused expression.  
Hephaestus, I thought trying hard to remember what he was the god of.  
"The god of...building?" I guessed and Jake laughed.  
"Kind of right. We build all sorts anyway, and invent a whole lot more. I'd give you a tour but they're cleaning at the moment so we're forbidden to go in. Dangerous stuff, cleaning in our cabin."  
he lowered his voice conspiratorially. "You never know when things might go BOOM!" he shouted the last word of the sentence, making me jump a little.  
"So, let me tell you about how things at camp work." Jake invited, throwing an arm around my shoulder.  
"Piper already-"  
"Piper McLean? She's cool, but what you want it insider information. Luckily, you have me. So, the first thing you want to know about demigods is that they're _not _very good at focusing..."

And he was off, telling me all sorts of stories and making it all sound fun and exciting.  
I liked listening to him, it was cute how he got all excited and acted out little parts of his story. He couldn't keep his hands still either, they were constantly in motion, fumbling with wires or making gestures.  
We spent most of the day together, and I had my first proper meal at Camp sitting with him in the dining pavilion.  
Jake told me that the tables used to be separated according to which cabin you belonged to, but they'd gotten rid of that rule last year.  
"It was so annoying." Jake sighed. "At least now all you have to do is chuck a little of your food into the fire for them."  
He showed me how, and when I didn't know whom to offer my food to, I simply said. "Please help me." and went back to sit with Jake.  
And that was around the time I started to get the feeling that life at Camp Half-Blood might actually be fun. Jake was nice. He introduced me to some of his friends, which was nice as well.  
We ate and I told them my story and they told me theirs, and Jayne, the girl from practise was there and it was all really cool. I enjoyed myself so much, I almost forgot my plan to visit Rachel the Oracle later.  
At five to three, I jumped up from the arena rows we'd moved to and told Jake I had to go. We said goodbye and I walked off, until I remembered that I had no clue where I was going.  
But as it would have been pretty embarrassing to walk back after I'd just said bye, I went off in the general direction of camp, hoping I'd soon meet someone to show me the way.  
After maybe five minutes, I did meet someone, but sadly it wasn't exactly anyone I was happy to see.  
"Is the damsel out of distress?" Ryan asked me as a greeting and I stuck my tongue out at him.  
"Completely out, thank you very much." I told him and proceeded to walk by.  
"Where're you going?" he asked, and I was so surprised that he was actually interested in anything I did, I turned around.  
"Rachel Dare's cave."  
"Would you like me to show you the way?" Ryan half smiled and I couldn't decide whether he was being sarcastic or not.  
"Sure" I replied, shrugging.  
Surprisingly, Ryan really did help me find Rachel's cave.  
We walked in silence along a narrow path that sloped slowly upwards, until Ryan stopped.  
"It's maybe another three minutes in that direction." he told me, and I nodded. This was getting awkward.  
"Thanks" I said, not looking at him.  
"No problem." he answered, his eyes also fixed on something else.  
After not moving for another moment, both of us turned around and walked off.  
I was confused. What was going on inside that boy's head?  
When I reached Rachel's cave, I was instantly in love with it. There were green trees outside, and soft curtains serving as a door.  
Not sure how to knock, I held back one of the purple curtains and pocked my head inside.  
"Rachel?" I asked, not getting an answer.  
Thinking she might be at the back of the cave, I cautiously walked in and looked around.  
The place was amazing: There were paintings hung all over the oddly straight walls, a wood panelled floor with mismatched carpets on it, a huge TV and stereo and pencils strewn all over the floor.  
Also, there were odd markings on every surface available. Was that Ancient Greek?  
It looked like Rachel just randomly snatched up whatever pen was lying nearby and scribbled the vision or whatever onto the next cupboard, pillow, book and so on.  
Suddenly, I heard a raised voice.  
"I _can't, _and you know it!"  
It was Rachel Dare.  
She was sitting on a huge bed at the far end of the cave, and shouting at what looked like a rainbow floating in front of her.  
When she saw me, she said "I have to go" very curtly and waved her hand through the rainbow, making it scatter into millions of little water drops.  
"Hey Erin." she smiled, and it seemed a little strained to me.  
"Is everything okay?" I asked, unsure whether I shouldn't go or not.  
"Oh, don't worry about me. All in a day's work as the Oracle." she didn't sound too enthusiastic.  
I approached a little further, and Rachel patted the free space beside her. I sat down.  
"Erin." Rachel suddenly said, staring straight ahead, her eyes wide.  
"What?" I asked, warily.  
"Follow the trail." the Oracle's voice sounded far away.  
"Excuse me?" I squeaked, unsure of how to act.  
Rachel blinked, and met my gaze again. "Sorry" she apologized, sighing deeply.  
"That's what I do, I'm afraid. I just randomly spurt out words of not-so wisdom, and people are expected to understand them. I wish..." but she didn't tell me what she wished, for at that moment,  
Hazel Levesque came bursting into the cave.  
"Erin? Oh good, you're there. Come on, we'd better hurry."  
"Why?" I asked, wondering what was happening now that made Hazel seem so hectic.  
"Mr D is here. He wants to see you."

**Oh my gods I am sooo sorry for not updating for so long!  
I had probably the most stressed week of my **_**life**_**! Exams, exams and preparing for my theory driving test and piano practice etc etc etc.  
Sorry!  
Anyway, here's chapter seven for you and I hope you like it too :)  
What do you think of Jake? Do you like him?  
Also, what do you think Mr D will do when he meets Erin?  
Tell me your opinion!  
Xxxx**

I don't own PJO/HoO.


	8. Chapter 8: Try Not To Kill Us

Chapter eight: Try Not To Kill Us

The god Dionysus was _not _what I'd imagined him to be like.  
When anyone had mentioned the camp director, I'd pictured a tall, slender guy who walked around carrying grapes, twirling his moustache and talking with a French accent. Yeah, I know, stereotypes.

But I mean, who could've guessed that one of the great Olympian gods who, mind you, could chose what to look like, would want to walk around like a fat middle aged guy!  
Mr D was wearing a very bright shirt with palm trees on it and drinking a Diet Coke, his small eyes on my face as I approached.  
Around the chair he sat on like it was a throne, were three satyrs, all bowing and providing him with more drink and what looked like nachos.  
I disliked him the moment I saw him.  
The god didn't say anything, not even when I'd reached the porch and was standing, like, two feet in front of him.  
I wasn't sure what to do. Do you bow to a god? Curtsey?  
In the end, I continued standing there looking at the guy, wondering why on earth everyone was so afraid of him, until Chiron, who was standing next to us in horse form, cleared his throat.  
"Mr D, this is-"  
"I _know _who this is, Chiron. I'm not an idiot, after all." Mr D interrupted Chiron, his voice irritated and rude. I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows.  
"You can leave us alone." Mr D commanded the centaur, but Chiron hesitated, eyeing Mr D and looking a little worried.  
"Oh, don't get your tail in a knot, I won't vaporize her." Mr D waved his hand impatiently, and, shooting me a look that clearly said _Don't do anything stupid, _Chiron trotted off. I wasn't sure if he heard the god's added "_Yet._"  
"So" Mr D said, turning his small eyes on me again. "You're the new one, ey?"  
I nodded, trying to control my irritation. I _hated _rude people.  
"And you are able to speak?"  
With tight lips, I said "Yes."  
Mr D raised his eyebrows.  
"Sir." I added, as an after thought. The god looked amused.  
"You really are new. Well, Chiron has asked me to determine who, or rather what, you are. Are you aware of this?"  
My heart sped up. By the sounds of it, I was about to get some answers.  
"I didn't know he'd asked you to tell me-"  
"Well he didn't." Mr D cut across me, his eyes flashing trickily. "He simply asked me to determine it. And I did. But no one ever mentioned me actually _telling _you."  
He laughed, amused by his own wit.  
I couldn't help but gape a little. Was this guy being serious? He knew what I was, but he wouldn't tell me? What kind of camp director was he?!  
"Careful, Erin Carraway." Mr D now continued, having watched my face intently. "You wouldn't want me as your enemy, I can promise you that."  
I stayed silent, a feeling in my gut telling me he was right. There was something crazily powerful about him, like a mad drunk with a shotgun.  
"What I can tell you" the god started, before stopping to eat a handful of nachos, the cheese dripping onto his chin, "is that you are _not _a Half-Blood, whatever theories you might have heard."  
"I'm not a...a demigod?" I asked.  
"No." Dionysus shook his head. "I should think I'm able to recognize family when I see it."  
That remark hurt a little, but I let it pass.  
"I _knew _it." I muttered, under my breath. And I had. No matter what Piper or any of the others had tried to convince me off, I'd known deep down that my parents were actually my parents and that neither of them was an Olympian god. Frankly, I felt pretty relieved.  
"But then, if I'm not a demigod, why can I enter Camp? How come I transported myself to where Ryan was?" I couldn't stop myself from asking Mr D, eager to know more.  
I knew I wasn't a demigod, but I was equally sure that there was something else going on with me.  
"That, I will not tell you." Dionysus stated, popping open a new can of coke handed to him by a satyr.  
"But I need to know!" I exclaimed, angry at the god for denying me the thing I wanted most.  
"No, you do not. And if you do, you should find out yourself. In the mean time, try not to kill any of us, will you? My punishment at this blasted camp is almost over, and the Fates be damned if I get any more bad press with Zeus before it is. To think I might have to stay for another fifty years!"

I stood there, staring incredulously at him, until he flashed me a pointed look.  
"You're _dismissed._"  
Feeling hollow, I turned around and walked away from the Big House, my hands clenched to shaking fists by my side.  
How is this fair, I thought, hurrying past the cabins toward the town boarder.  
My cheeks felt hot, and I guessed I was bright red in the face, but I didn't care.  
That stupid god of wine, how could he do that? And why didn't Chiron stop it? He must have known how Dionysus would react. He'd known the guy for a millennia, for heaven's sake!  
I stuck my visitor's pass out at Clare, a girl on duty, and stormed through the streets to the Jacksons' house.  
There, I opened the front door (Percy almost always forgot to lock it, it seemed) and ran upstairs to the guest bedroom.  
Once inside, I slammed the door shut and stood behind it, shaking all over.  
Hot, unwanted tears started to blur my vision, and I blinked furiously, trying to get rid of them.  
But it was no good, and they flowed down my cheeks, leaving cold tracks in their wake.  
Sobbing, I slid down onto the floor, my back against the bedroom wall.  
I wasn't even sure why I was crying.  
Maybe because I was so angry at Mr D for being such a prick.  
Maybe because the past few days had simply been one big emotional roller coaster.  
But if I was honest with myself, I knew it wasn't that.  
I knew I felt this sad because the home I'd thought I'd discovered, turned out not to be for me after all.  
I didn't belong here, even though, to me, it felt like I did.

An hour later, I heard the front door open and close, and voices drift up from downstairs. I was still sitting on the floor, but no longer crying.  
The voices sounded angry, and suddenly I heard footsteps up the stairs and down the hall toward my bedroom. They stopped right in front.  
There was a knock.  
"Erin?" Percy called. "Are you there?"  
Before I could respond, more footfalls were audible coming down the hall at a fast pace.  
"Is the girl actually in there _right now, _Percy?!"  
The voice was a woman's, and it was sharp like a needle.  
There was silence outside the door, and I kept quiet, listening hard. I thought I knew who the woman was.  
"You'd better sort this out." she shot at her husband.  
It seemed that Annabeth Chase had returned home.  
And it also seemed she wasn't happy at all to find me there.

**So, there we have it:  
Erin is definitely not a demigod, and Mr D is a prick as always!  
The question is, what will happen now?  
Rights for PJO/HoO Characters and places to Rick Riordan, reviews are welcome! xx  
**


	9. Chapter 9: The Oracle's Predicament

Chapter nine: The Oracle's Predicament

A week later, I found myself standing in the room I could no longer consider as my own, and staring at the mirror.  
I still looked the way I did a week ago: Orange shirt, jeans, dark blonde hair with a fringe hanging just a little into my eyes.  
I tried to smile at my reflection, but my skin felt taut so I gave up.  
Seven days had passed since Annabeth Chase had come home to find me in her house.  
Seven days since she and Percy had a huge fight, only parts of which I was able to hear.

"I'm not having her inside the house, Percy!" Annabeth shouted, banging her hand down on what might have been the kitchen table.  
"Annabeth, what in the name of Zeus is wrong with you? Since when do you deny somebody, who obviously needs our help, a bed?!" Percy had retorted.  
"Let me make one thing clear, Perseus Jackson - We don't know the first thing about that girl.  
Chiron told me. Do you even realize what she might be?!"

At that moment they must have noticed the kitchen door was still open, for there'd been the sound of it slamming shut and I couldn't understand the muffled voices that followed.  
But I'd heard enough.

At the beginning, I'd thought that it was just lack of sleep, or shock that had made Annabeth Chase take against me so instantly. But as the week progressed, and she continued to behave as coldly towards me as ever, I'd started to realize that things couldn't go on like this.  
And so, I'd made a decision.

I'd called my mother to tell her I was coming home and I'd packed the few things I'd bought in the shops of Little Athens. Of course, Mum had been completely mad, screaming at me through the receiver, but I'd managed to tune her out easily enough.  
Jake and Jayne, the two people I'd seen the most in the past few days, had tried to persuade me to stay, but I knew that this was the best thing to do.

I would simply go back to Kerritville, be grounded for the rest of my life and pretend that I'd never heard of Camp Half-Blood. It would be the best for everyone.

Mr D's words, as rude and insensitive as they might have been, also clearly conveyed a message:  
You don't belong here. You might get us all killed.

I didn't understand how I might be able to harm anybody, but if a God told me I could, I guessed that was pretty much as solid as info can get.

Jake kept telling me to let it blow over, but the situation was simple, really: I wasn't a demigod, so I didn't belong here.  
"But you're something different, Erin, you said it yourself!" Jake had argued, as we'd sat together at dinner the day before yesterday. I'd just told him and Jayne what I was planning to do, and they were both looking at me incredulously.  
I knew what they were thinking: How could anyone leave this place voluntarily?  
But they had a completely different perspective. Their parents were gods and they belonged here.  
I didn't.  
And so, I had to go.

With a sigh, I came back to the present. I smoothed out the creases on the bed, trying to make everything look untouched and perfect again. There was no reason to make Annabeth dislike me even more.  
There was only one thing left to do, really, and that was to visit Rachel Dare.  
I hadn't seen her since that time I'd gone by her cave, but I still wanted to say goodbye.  
Okay, so maybe I was hoping that she'd seen my future, or could give me a few pointers.  
But I really did want to say goodbye as well.

Swinging my backpack over my shoulder, I walked out of the guest room and down the stairs.  
I had written a note that I was planning to leave there for Percy and Annabeth to find.  
Annabeth probably wouldn't want to read it, but I couldn't just leave without thanking them for letting me stay, and Percy for being so nice to me when I'd arrived.

I know, I know that a letter isn't very personal but I just couldn't face having to explain myself again, okay? Especially with Annabeth giving me the cold shoulder.

I laid the envelope on the kitchen counter and left the house, making my way through the winding streets of Little Athens, thinking how odd it was that everything already felt so familiar.  
How could I not belong here? I sighed inwardly.  
Feeling melancholic, I bought a cup of hot chocolate on my way out and savoured it's unique taste.  
Once outside the town, I began my ascent to Rachel Dare's cave.

However, the nearer I got, the stranger I felt.  
The edges of my vision were blurred, and I could feel my legs wobbling with every step I took.  
I tried to steady myself by leaning against a tree trunk, but the dizzy feeling just got worse the further up the path I went.  
Not this again, I thought fervently, struggling to keep going without passing out.  
I hadn't had any major problems since that seizure a week ago, except maybe a few headaches, and I'd be damned if I lost my mind now.  
Finally, with painstaking effort, I reached the entrance of Rachel's cavern.

And stopped.

And gasped.

My cup of hot chocolate went tumbling to the ground as I stared down at the sight which greeted me.

The entrance to the cave was open, the curtains torn from their haltering on the wall.  
They now lay in a tangled mess, half-wrapped around a red-headed woman, who was lying on the ground, as still as the grave.

"Rachel!" I yelled, and sank to my knees beside her.  
I carefully checked for any head injuries before shaking her and shouting "Wake up, wake up!"  
But the Oracle lay there, her head lolling from side to side, like a...corpse.  
I sucked in a sharp breath. She couldn't be dead. Could she?  
For a moment I was too scared to move, but then I grabbed her wrist to check for a pulse.  
After a moment of horror I finally found it. It was feeble but was definitely there.  
"Thank god!" I mumbled, my heart beating fast.  
Thank the gods, a little voice inside my head corrected but I thought back at it, Screw them. I have to help Rachel.

What I needed to do was get help from camp as quickly as possible, but I couldn't just leave her lying there on her own, in the open forest.  
So, I grabbed hold of her around her waist and, with strength I hadn't known I possessed, half-carried, half-dragged her inside the cave.  
I didn't get as far as the bed, but propped her against a Lay-Z boy instead, trying to make sure she was able to breathe.  
Then, once I was relatively sure she was secure, I left the cave and sprinted all the way back to Camp Half-Blood.  
My lungs burned and my legs ached, but I kept going as if Hades himself was behind me.

Finally, I broke out of the forest and arrived at the cabins, more or less running into the Apollo cabin door.  
There was no time to fetch Healer Solace, as his house was too far away, but I hoped some of the other Apollo kids might be able to help.  
The door banged open with a crash and I was greeted by several screams.  
I must have looked wild, my face red from sprinting, scratches from branches I'd had no time to dodge covering my arms and my hair like a crow's nest. But I didn't care.

"Quick" I panted as loudly as I could, which to be honest wasn't very loud, as I was completely out of breath.  
"Erin?" An incredulous voice asked and I looked up to see Ryan standing there, glasses in one hand and a book in the other.  
"Rachel's...u...unconscious...in her..c..cave. Needs...help." I stuttered between gasps for air.  
Thankfully, Ryan took me seriously, maybe because I was behaving too madly even for him to doubt me.  
"Annie, George and Terin, come on!" Ryan shouted into the room and almost immediately three blonde-haired figures appeared, healing kits at their sides.  
"Her cave, you said?" Ryan demanded and I nodded.  
The four of them left, sprinting back the way I had just come.  
"I'll go tell Chiron" a small girl piped up and rushed out of the door. She couldn't have been older than seven.  
"Here," another of Ryan's siblings offered me a hand and I let myself be guided onto a chair.  
"I need...to help." I muttered, but the boy shook his head.  
"You need to catch your breath and then you can go back. We don't want you fainting from lack of oxygen."

I looked at him, and promptly my vision swam and I swayed. Apparently the dizziness from before had not quite abated.  
He steadied me, smiling a little. "See?"  
I did see, but that didn't stop me from wanting to go back to Rachel's cave and help her.  
After my breathing had become more regular and I was able to stand up without shaking, the Apollo kid let me go back outside.

I was just about to head back up to the cave, when Ryan came jogging toward me.  
"Good, you're there. Come on, Chiron wants to see you in the Big House."  
"How's Rachel?" I wanted to know, not moving.  
"Hasn't woken up yet, but apparently she's not in any immediate danger." Ryan said briskly.  
I nodded, and together we walked away from the cabins.

Halfway to the Big House, Ryan held something out to me without stopping.  
I looked down at the thing in my hand and realised it was the little knapsack I'd packed all my stuff into.  
I stared, having completely forgotten my plans to leave Camp Half-Blood.  
Rachel's predicament had erased every thought of going home from my mind.  
"Thanks." I mumbled, slightly embarrassed.  
Ryan didn't say anything, but he must have understood what I'd been about to do.

Outside the Big House, Chiron was waiting for us.  
"Erin." he said, his face grave. "I need you to tell me exactly what happened."  
We sat down in the rec room, Chiron rolling inside in his wheelchair.  
"I found her at the entrance of her cave." I started to explain.  
"She wasn't moving, but it looked like she had fallen over so I checked for injuries and then tried to wake her up.  
But she wouldn't move. At first I thought-" I paused, unable to relate the fright of that moment. "I found her pulse and took her inside. Then I ran for camp and Ryan and three of his siblings went to help."  
Chiron's expression turned a little suspicious.  
"Why exactly did you go up there?" he wanted to know, and his gaze made me feel like I was being X-rayed.  
"Just wanted to visit Rachel." I lied nervously, trying hard to keep eye contact. I wasn't a very good liar.  
Thankfully, Ryan saved me by continuing the story.  
"When we got there we tried to wake her up." he explained, his voice much steadier than mine.  
"But she wouldn't. So we decided to bring her down here, 'cause it was the nearest. If she doesn't wake up, though, we might want to consider moving her to the hospital in town."  
Chiron nodded, looking extremely worried.  
"Healer Solace is with her now. We can only hope she will wake up again."  
"Do you have any idea what caused it?" I asked the centaur, who shrugged.  
"She is the Oracle of Delphi, Erin, and sadly, Oracles are often subjected to mysterious happenings. We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I want you two to return to your activities. I'll make sure you're kept informed."  
"Okay," we both said, and stood up to leave.

Outside, there was a moment of silence, and I found it hard to look at Ryan. It was too embarrassing.  
"You were going to run away, weren't you?" he suddenly asked, his expression unreadable.  
"I was going to go home." I told him, which was answer enough.  
Ryan didn't respond, and I took his silence to mean our conversation was over. But there was still something I needed to say.  
"Thank you." I said, and finally our eyes met. "For helping me and not asking any questions."  
Ryan's dark green eyes had a sheen of sadness to them as he replied.  
"Sometimes asking questions causes more problems than it solves."  
I didn't know what he meant, but decided not to ask.  
As it seemed, my time at Camp Half-Blood wasn't over after all.

**There you go, a nice new chapter for you all! :)  
Thanks to my new and very wonderful Beta _StoryWebber _for helping me!  
I hope you enjoy this my lovely readers, I'll try to get the next one to you as quickly as possible!  
Rights go to Rick,_ comme toujours_**


	10. Chapter 10: The Fire Dream

Chapter ten: The Fire Dream

The news of Rachel Dare's coma travelled around camp faster than Greek fire.  
By the time I got back to the Jacksons' house, I'd heard at least a dozen people talk about it on the streets.

I felt some trepidation as I walked up to knock on the door.

Either Percy or Annabeth must have found my note by now, and I squirmed at the thought of facing either of them.  
But I couldn't leave. Not now.

I didn't know why exactly - after all I'd only met Rachel twice - but for some reason, I felt responsible for what had happened to her.  
It just seemed like too much of a coincidence to me: Mr D telling me I was dangerous, Annabeth Jackson confirming this by wanting me out of her house and now Rachel Dare, found lying like a corpse in front of her cave. By me, one might add.

Maybe I wasn't a demigod, but I sure wasn't a stupid coward either. If people were getting hurt, I had to find out if I was the cause of it.

And if I wasn't, well, there would be more trains to Kerritville than today's.

So there I stood, steeling myself to knock on the Jacksons' front door, which had been regularly locked ever since Annabeth had come back from Camp Jupiter.  
I hesitated, debating over whether to ask Jake for help instead, when a voice spoke from behind me.

"Are you going to move or not?"  
It was Annabeth, and I hastily dodged out of the way so she could unlock the door.  
"Have you been away all day?" I asked, trying hard to keep the hope out of my voice.  
Maybe, just maybe, my note hadn't been found.  
"No, I only went to see Will Solace." Annabeth replied and my heart sank as she looked at me with those piercingly intelligent eyes.  
She'd read the letter, there was no mistake about it.

In silence, we both went inside.  
I was way too embarrassed to say anything to her, though. What would that conversation look like?  
_"Hey Mrs Jackson, I know I said I was leaving but could you maybe let me move back in as I haven't got a place to stay and might be potentially dangerous though I need to find out for sure? Thanks!"_  
Yeah, that would go well.

I stayed silent while Annabeth unpacked the sleek black laptop she always carried with her and booted it up. Jake had told me that as Annabeth was the architect of Little Athens and Olympus, and had lost her old laptop, her mother, Athena, had given her a new one herself.  
I was unsure of what to do. Would it be rude to pretend nothing had happened? Not as much as simply leaving would be, I supposed.

When Annabeth still hadn't said anything a few minutes later, I decided it would be best if I left.  
It was obvious she didn't want me around, and I could always ask Chiron for help in finding a new place to stay.

However, just as I turned to leave, I thought I heard a low voice: "I didn't take you for a quitter."  
I whirled around. "Excuse me?"  
Annabeth looked up from her screen, her face a perfectly controlled mask. "I said, will you be here for dinner?"  
I stared at her. "That's not what I-"  
She raised an eyebrow. I shut my mouth, and cleared my throat.  
"Er… yes, I think so." I mumbled, and Annabeth nodded, returning her gaze to her laptop.

Dumbfounded, I stood there, wondering about what had just happened. Had Annabeth Jackson really allowed me to stay? It seemed so, at least indirectly.  
Well, if she had, it would not do to wait around for her to change her mind.  
Quickly, I walked up to my room, feeling a little warmer inside than before.

That evening after Percy came home, the three of us had dinner together in the kitchen.  
At first, it was a little awkward, at least for me. I had no idea if Percy knew about my earlier intentions of leaving, but somehow, I didn't think so.

The curry we had was delicious, yet I couldn't quite enjoy it, as I was thinking of Rachel in her coma and waiting for Annabeth to mention my goodbye note.  
She didn't, though, and I got the feeling she was offering to simply overlook it.  
I couldn't deny I was relieved.

Instead, the talk soon turned to Rachel. Percy told Annabeth and me that he'd gone to see her on his way home, at Beauregard Hospital, where they'd moved her to.

"She looks like Thanatos himself," Percy said darkly.  
I had no idea who Thanatos was, though I guessed he was some god or other.  
"Well, not really," Percy corrected himself. "Thanatos looks a lot healthier."  
Annabeth gave her husband a wan smile and patted his hand.  
I didn't say anything.  
Percy put his fork down. "I just don't get what could have happened to her!" he exclaimed, sounding extremely frustrated.  
"Maybe a vision?" Annabeth suggested. "She's fainted before."  
"No" Percy shook his head. "This is something different. There's something wrong."

I focused on my plate, trying hard to avoid being asked any questions.  
Alas, I had no such luck.

"Erin, you found her," Percy said to me and, reluctantly, I looked up and met his gaze.  
"Was there something lying near her? A note or something?" he asked.  
I shrugged helplessly.  
"To be honest I didn't check, I was more focused on getting help."  
Guilt crept up again inside me; should I have acted differently?  
"I'll go check tomorrow." Percy muttered, and I wasn't quite sure whether he was talking to us or to himself. "She often writes stuff down when she sees things."  
"That's a good idea." Annabeth said firmly, obviously trying to lighten up her husband's mood.

As soon as we'd finished, Percy excused himself, "I think I'll go to bed. 'Night, you two."  
I noticed Annabeth's eyes following her husband as he left, a worried expression on her face.

I helped put the dishes away and was just about to go upstairs myself when Annabeth spoke,  
"He's very loyal, you know. He blames himself."  
It was obvious that she meant Percy, and I nodded, unsure of what to say. Percy did seem like the sort of guy who would always have his friends' backs, not matter what.  
But Annabeth's voice had sounded more melancholic than anything else, and I couldn't help but wonder what else Percy Jackson blamed himself for.  
Whom they'd lost.

"Rachel will be okay." I found myself saying, trying to sound confident. "She seems like a tough cookie."

"It's good that you're so sure." Annabeth replied, but she didn't sound mean, only tired.  
With a sigh, she stood up. "Well, good night, Erin."  
"Good night."

Later, as I lay in bed, I couldn't help but worry about the events of the day. Even the fact that Annabeth had been nicer to me today than she had been all week couldn't cheer me up.  
_Oh well,_ I thought. _At least I can get a couple of hours of sleep now. _  
I always slept like a rock, no matter what happened, and so I was pretty convinced I was about to get some rest, finally.

I closed my eyes, waiting for nice, peaceful dreams to come and take me away.

And come they did - but they were as far from nice and peaceful as you could possibly imagine.

_A dark room.  
Black, high walls and a ceiling so far up it was lost in the sheer gloom of the place.  
The only source of light was a basin, standing in the middle of the circular chamber, filled with flickering flames.  
The fire beckoned to me, its hundred tendrils urging me to come forward like hands reaching out.  
I obeyed.  
My steps echoed around the room, and my eyes remained fixed, fixed on the fire.  
Once I was in front of the basin, I looked down, gazing into its depths, which were like a fiery hell.  
The longer I looked, the more it seemed that the flames were actually images, dancing before my eyes.  
A tall building, an army gathered at its base.  
A tree that turned into a girl.  
A flying ship, sailing through the sea of flames before being engulfed again.  
And, briefly, a face. It flashed by so quickly I had no time to see whether it was a boy or a girl, but I felt a fleeting sense of longing so intense I had to grip the side of the basin to keep myself from falling forwards into the heat._

"Is it there?" a voice suddenly spoke and I whirled around.  
Rachel Elizabeth Dare was standing in front of me, wearing a simple white dress, her red hair tumbling over her shoulders, a mirror of the flames that continued to play behind me.  
"No," I told her, and she nodded, unsurprised by my answer.  
I wasn't sure why I said no. I didn't know what was not there.

"Erin." Rachel spoke my name like an incantation, and I held her gaze.  
"Erin. You have to find it. It's gone, and it's my fault."  
My voice sounded hoarse "What's gone?"  
"The spirit. It's gone and I can't see." She put her hands up to her eyes, covering them.  
"I can't see, Erin!" she suddenly cried out, and when she brought her hands away, there were only black holes where her eyes were supposed to be.  
I gasped, unable to respond.  
"You can find it. I know you can! You have to follow the trail. You have to travel!" Rachel was now shouting at me, moving forward with her arms stretched out blindly in front of her, grasping at thin air.  
"I...I don't understand" I whispered, terrified.  
"You have to help me get it back! It's the only way, only you can follow the trail! You have to Erin, you have to. I made it go away and you have to get it back!"  
"I don't know how!" I yelled, trying to tell her that I was the wrong person, that I didn't know how to help.  
"You do! You do, you do, you do, you do." Rachel repeated, and her voice echoed around the room, again and again, getting louder and louder until it was painfully loud and I had to cover my ears with my hands.  
"Help me Erin! Follow the trail and help me! Do it, or we'll all suffer. The town will burn! Help, Erin, help!"  
Rachel was advancing and suddenly her hands transformed into claws and her face elongated until it was no longer hers but that of a monstrous creature, screeching my name over and over again.  
I cried out and stumbled backwards, trying to get away from the monster, but the basin of fire was still standing behind me.  
It went crashing to the floor and the fire, instead of going out, started to spread around the room, racing along the dark walls, turning them red.  
The heat grew so intense I could feel my skin starting to blister and I yelled out in pain, still backing away from the creature, until a wall of fire suddenly came flying toward me.  
"No!" I screamed.  
But it was too late.

**Hehe, things are heating up. Literally!  
I don't own any PJO/HoO characters.  
Check out my wonderful Beta **_**StoryWebber, **_** a lovely and talented person! :)  
Anyway, did you like this chapter? Tell me your thoughts :)  
xxx  
**


	11. Chapter 11: A Plan

Chapter eleven: A Plan

I woke up screaming, sure that the fire would crush me. It took me a second to realise I was actually still safe in bed, and not in the room of crazy Oracles and fiery basins.

But my yelling had woken somebody up and I heard them sprinting to my room.

The door was flung open and I saw Annabeth, breathing heavily and seeming alarmed.

"What is it?!" she asked, looking around for what had caused my outbreak.

"R..Rachel." I gasped and tried to keep myself from shaking.

"What?" Annabeth demanded, coming in, still looking wary.

"I – I saw Rachel. In a dream. It was..." I couldn't find the correct words to describe the dream. 'Terrifying' seemed to fit. Perhaps 'horrendous'.

Annabeth's expression suddenly changed to understanding.

"Don't worry" she said, and sat down on the edge of my bed. "Demigods get nightmares all the time."

"But I'm not-" I started and then mumbled "you know, a Half-Blood."

She gave me a pondering look. "Mhmm. Well, you're not ordinary either, that's for sure. Why don't you tell me what you dreamt?"

I nodded and started to relay everything I had seen in my dream. The more I told her, the grimmer Annabeth's expression became. When I'd finished she sat there silently for so long, I had to ask,

"So what do you think?" to make her remember I was still there.

"I think-" she told me, in a voice that was very serious indeed "-that we should go and see Chiron right now."

"Chiron?" I stammered. "But won't he be asleep? It's the middle of the night!"

"He'll wake up." Annabeth replied and stood up, went over to the drawers and began pulling out clothes. "Here, put these on. We'll go right now. He'll want to know."

With that, she left me to get changed. It didn't look like I had much of a choice in the matter. I had to go with her, but I was scared of what problems I was causing now, and also of what Rachel's cryptic message had meant.

"Well, it seems quite obvious what Erin has to do. At least, part of it is."

Annabeth and I were sitting in Chiron's office, a steaming cup of tea in front of each of us, which were left completely untouched.

We'd just told the centaur about my dream, and then he and Annabeth had muttered something about whether the other wondered if it was the 'spirit'.  
I understood nothing.

"What do I have to do?" I wanted to know, and to my surprise my voice sounded a lot steadier than my insides felt.

Before Chiron could answer, Annabeth shook her head.

"No way, Chiron. You can't be serious"

"Annabeth" he responded warningly, but the blonde raved on.

"No. None of this anymore. You can't send her on a quest, the girl's had no training and she hasn't even got any powers!"

"Send me on a what?!" I gasped, but nobody seemed to listen to me.

"Annabeth, listen to me. It is obvious that Erin has been chosen by Rachel to do this-"

"I don't care if Rachel chose her! It might just have been a dream, did that ever occur to you?! Sending her on a quest like this would be the same as setting a rabid hellhound on her! She's unqualified and not one of the gods will support her."

"Apollo might." Chiron said, but he sounded uneasy. "Rachel is his oracle, after all."

"Oh, to Hades with Ap-"

"Careful, now" Chiron warned, and this time Annabeth actually shut up. Perhaps insulting one of the gods was something even she didn't do.

"Well, I'm glad you're all asking my opinion in all of this." I spoke up, using the short silence.

Both adults turned to me, a stony expression on one's face, a doubtful one on the other's.

I was annoyed. I hated people talking over my head like that, especially in matters that directly concerned me.  
From what I'd heard, Rachel wanted me to go on a quest to find her spirit or something. And although I felt a quiver of anxiety just thinking about it, there was also excitement mixed with the fear.

Finally, there would be some purpose of me coming to camp, some way I could help. I didn't need training or the gods. I'd show them all on my own.

"I'll do it." I told them, trying to look tough and demigod-ish.

"Don't be ridiculous" Annabeth snapped, and I almost flinched.

"Are you sure about this, Erin?" Chiron's voice was concerned, but I knew he would support my decision. "It will be extremely dangerous. We will have to go through your dream again and try to find as many clues as possible, because obviously you won't be able to get a prophecy due to our oracle's condition. And of course, you will need to choose your companions."

"My companions?" I asked, a little overwhelmed.

"Yes, three people may go on a quest together. More would attract too many monsters."

"But I don't attract monsters."

Chiron pondered me. "No, I suppose you don't. But we won't take the risk."

"Do I get to choose anyone I like?" I asked, already thinking of Jake.

"Yes..." Chiron said, though there was obvious hesitation.

"Well" Annabeth suddenly spoke up, making me start. I'd almost forgotten she was there.

"It seems you're all nice and set and ready for the big adventure." she emphasised the word cruelly. "If you want to walk to your death, Erin, I won't be the one to stop you. Goodnight."

And with that she stormed to the door, wrenching it open to reveal… Ryan?

"Get out of the way" Annabeth hissed and Ryan stepped to the side, looking after her retreating back with a confused expression.

"What's up with her?" He asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction Annabeth had disappeared and turning to face the office. He halted, obviously taken by surprise to see me sitting there.

I didn't say anything. Why did he always have to turn up when things got complicated or embarrassing?

"Ryan." Chiron said, sounding mildly surprised. "What's wrong?"

Ryan looked at the centaur, and a troubled expression passed over his face, lingering in his dark green eyes.

"Something happened that I thought you should know about." His voice was low and serious.

"I had a dream. About Rachel."

**I am sooo sorry! I know I haven't updated in _forever_ but first I was super busy and then fanfiction seemed to have some sort of problem? Oh well, please forgive me 3**

**Also, this is just an "in between chapter" before it all starts getting crazy! ;)**

**I love you guys, and I promise to do better**

**xxxxx **


	12. Chapter 12: The Trail

Chapter twelve: The Trail

"Nu-uh".

"Oh, come on."

"I am _not_ doing this!"

"Erin, you're already doing this."

I whirled around and tried to poke Ryan in the chest. Of course, he was way faster than me and grabbed my wrist before my hand even touched him.

I glared at him.

"Let. Go."

"Only if you stop acting like a child,." He snapped back and squeezed my wrist to prove his point.

_I'm going to kill him._ I thought, but swallowed the remark.

He was right, of course. I_was_ acting like a child and I _should have_ stopped, but I was just so annoyed!

Still, I breathed in deeply and said, quietly and with a lot of control: "Okay."

Ryan opened his fingers and I immediately slipped my wrist out of his reach.

After our midnight chat with Chiron, it had become clear that Ryan had had a very similar dream to mine. The only difference, really, was that he hadn't actually talked to Rachel.

He'd said he'd watched her, wandering around in a dark room with a basin of fire in the middle, muttering the same phrase again and again:

_"Find it. They need to find it."_

When Chiron had said that it was obvious this meant Ryan was supposed to accompany me on the quest, I'd stared at him in disbelief.

I'd wanted Jake to come. But Chiron said that wasn't possible as he was working on a project for his dad, Hephaestus, at the moment. And apparently putting a god off wasn't very advisable.

Then I'd tried to persuade Chiron to let me wake Jayne up.

_"I bet she would come,"_ I'd said, keeping the plea out of my voice.

But again, the centaur denied my request. He'd told me that it would take too long to wake Jayne up and get her informed on everything. He added that Jayne probably wouldn't want to go on a quest.

To my question as to why she wouldn't, I'd gotten no answer.

So here we were, and now I had to stop ignoring Ryan when he tried talking about the quest.

"Okay, so I get that we have to start immediately." Ryan said, and I brought myself back to the present, walking slightly ahead of him, my flash light pointed at the ground so we wouldn't stumble.

"But why does Chiron think there'll be anything at Rachel's cave? We checked everywhere for clues."

I didn't answer, not because I was still ignoring him but because I had no answer. Eventually I sighed.

"To be honest I guess he just can't think of where else to look." I told Ryan, who blew air out between his lips in resignation.

The forest around us was dark, and kind of creepy. I kept hearing things moving inside, and I was secretly thankful that Ryan never really went anywhere without his golden sword, which was loosely strapped to his belt right now.

Finally, we arrived at the cave, the entrance of which loomed ahead of us, dark and uninviting.

Nobody had removed the ripped curtains yet, and so their remains were still hanging by the entrance, long tendrils fluttering as if beckoning us forward.

"How about you switch your light on as well?" I whispered to Ryan, and felt him get a torch out and press the ON button.

Another beam of light joined mine and slowly, we both crept forward.

_Why does it have to be in the middle of the night?_ I thought to myself and tried not to completely freak out when an owl hooted loudly on a nearby tree.

It was a good thing I had taken my bag with me to the Big House. I hadn't even noticed that I'd done it until I'd seen it lying on the floor in Chiron's office.

Ryan had hurried to his cabin and grabbed some stuff, then Chiron had met us on the greens and given us a few drachmas, some normal, sorry,_mortal_money and the advice to start where we now were.

But so far, nothing looked like it might be a clue.

I was starting to doubt my decision to go on this quest without proper preparation. Where did one even start? What were we supposed to do if we didn't find anything?

Shaking my head, I continued to look closely around the entrance of the cave and even stepped inside a bit. There was nothing, just the usual amount of stuff Rachel had and scribbling all over everything.

"Maybe we should read some of this?" Ryan suggested, pointing at some writing on the wall.

"You can." I replied. "I can't read it."

Ryan opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again. He turned his back on me and leant closer to the stone, obviously trying to decipher the markings.

I sat down on the floor, closing my eyes for a second and trying to picture the dream again.

Something told me I should start looking there for clues...

_"Erin."__  
"Erin. You have to find it."_That was Rachel's voice, sounding as clearly in my head as if I was having the dream right now. I concentrated harder.

_"The spirit. It's gone and I can't see!"_

_"You can find it...You have to follow the trail! You have to travel!"_

_"Only you can follow the trail..."_

My eyes opened again. Okay, so Rachel had told me to follow a trail only I could follow, to travel, in order to find a spirit she had lost.

What spirit was she talking about? Well, that could only really mean one thing: The Spirit of the Oracle of Delphi.

I didn't know how exactly it worked, but I knew that somehow the Spirit used Rachel as a sort of medium to warn or guide the demigods by giving them prophecies.

And now, the Spirit seemed to be gone. Had it abandoned Rachel? Could that even happen?

What about the trail Rachel had told me to follow? Why was I the only one able to follow it? Perhaps it was somehow barred to Half-Bloods...

I was about to relay everything I was thinking to Ryan, who was still reading the wall writings, when something at the edge of the path caught my eye.

I blinked and looked closer.

There it was again.

Slowly getting to my feet, I kept my eyes trained on the trees to the right hand side of the path.  
There was something there, something that looked like a...ripple?

A ripple in the air, like waves on water.

Completely intrigued, I moved still closer, leaving my flash light behind. The moonlight was enough to see this...phenomenon.

My whole body felt warm all of a sudden, and I knew that this was right, this was supposed to be.

I was supposed to find this.

It was like a sign. Like a trail...

"Erin?"

Ryan's voice cut through my trance and I realised I was standing right in front of the trees, my right hand outstretched, only inches away from touching the mark.

"I...I think I found something." I whispered, my voice hushed.

I heard footsteps and sensed Ryan stand next to me, looking towards where my hand was reaching for the air in front of me.

"What?" he asked, leaning in closer. "Why are you touching the air?" His voice was doubtful, and it made me finally take my eyes off the ripples and look him in the eyes.

"You can't see it?" I asked, my eyebrows raised. It was right _there_, right in front of us!

"No." Ryan shook his head, returning my gaze. We were standing so close I could see the uncertainty in his eyes, which seemed almost black in the dark.

"There are ripples in the air. Kind of like waves on the water." I explained, realising I was still whispering.

"Ripples...As if something went through?"

"Yes!" I cried, making him jump backwards.  
"Sorry, sorry," I hastily apologized. "It's just that that's exactly what it looks like. I couldn't put my finger on it, but now it makes perfect sense!"

"What are you talking about?" Ryan grumbled, rubbing the back of his head where he had hit a tree branch.

"In my dream, Rachel said there was a trail that only I could follow, and now we're here! And here this is and this has to be it, so we should follow it but Rachel said only I could, so I don't know if you-"

"Woah, woah" Ryan interrupted my rambling, holding his hands up. "Slow down."

I shut my mouth, too excited to form coherent words.

"Start again, but slowly." Ryan ordered me, and I nodded, took a deep breath and tried again.

"Okay, so in the dream I had, the one where I was talking to Rachel, right?"

Ryan nodded. I continued.

"She told me I had to follow a trail, that I had to travel. Only I am supposed to be able to do it. And if _this_" I pointed at the ripples "Is what we think it is, then we've found the trail! We only have to follow..." I stopped talking, realising what I was saying.

"Yeah." Ryan agreed, obviously knowing what I was going to say. "How do we follow this?"

But my mind was already racing on, and the only logical solution presented itself almost immediately. It was as if I'd known all along what I had to do, from the moment I saw the Trail flickering in the air.

"Of course..." I breathed, my gaze fixed once again on the soft ripples of air. They seemed to be getting smaller.

Letting myself be guided completely by instinct, I approached the spot where Ryan was still standing, his eyes trained on me.

"Erin, what are you doing?" he demanded, and his tone was reproachful, but also a little afraid, I thought.

I didn't respond. It didn't feel like it was me leading my body any more, some other instinct had taken over, telling me what to do.

_Go closer._

I walked closer to the trail marks, and stretched out my hand once more.

"Erin. Erin, stop." Ryan told me.

_Just a little closer..._

I was almost there, almost touching the marks in the air.

_Touch it._

Okay.

"Erin!"

Ryan's shout was the last thing I heard before the world turned upside down.

**There we go, like I promised, I updated quicker this time!  
I quite like this one to be honest :) **

**Argh, I've just started watching Teen Wolf and I'm _completely _obsessed with it! *_*  
No spoilers though please 3 **

**Hope you enjoy, tell me what ya think! **

**And thanks to StoryWebber xxx**


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